Walking down the Unseen Path
by Sid1
Summary: [DMFA fanfic] Kitzi's plans for life are limited to living in his village. But things don't always go according to plan, and now, Kitzi has to deal with his new life in a school filled with Incubi and Succubi... [Rated T, if it's wrong, please comment!]
1. Guests

**Foreword, disclaimer, etc:**  
(Dear God, I apologize if I flooded somebody's inbox. I forgot just how much FFN tends to filter out of descriptions and fic texts. If you spot weirdness, feel free to ask if it's intentional or just yet another case of FFN's converter being trigger-happy.)

This is a fanfic set in the universe of DMFA ("Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures"), a webcomic located at www . missmab . com (and it's very good, so read it, yo). The few characters from the canon setting are used with permission by the respective owners.

While I suggest that you read the comic, I don't think that the comic is necessary to understand the fic. It would certainly help, but I tried to write in a way that allows people to dive in without reading a thousand or so comic strips. You can just treat it as a general anthro/furry fic with a fantasy setting, I guess.

A last warning/information before we can dive in: Some elements of the DMFA universe are not fully explained, and Amber (the comic's author) is constantly refining/expanding the background info. As such, some elements I present as part of the universe are not strictly canon, but rather my attempt at filling the gaps.

* * *

**Guests**

_"It was a dark and stormy night. Cascading thunder roared over the rolling hills of the Kingdom._"

She stared at what she had just written. _No,_ the lamb finally decided and scratched out the two sentences. _Hello, square one, it's me again,_ she thought bitterly, flexing both sets of her wings, the telltale signs of a Succubus. The wings on her back settled down quickly enough, but the small wings on her head kept moving, reflecting her irritation. _What if I'm just not meant to be a good author? Somebody once told me that writing is easy for people who have witnessed amazing and exciting things. Maybe my life just isn't interesting enough._

Just at that moment, something inside her living room started to tear apart the dimensional borders. She gave the vortex a glance. "Yep. Life's not interesting enough. That must be it."

"If you wanted a more interesting life, you could just join me, Fewobia," the tall creature standing in the center of the vortex replied. The creature, a female, white-furred poodle with pale fuchsia hair, gave the lamb a toothy grin. Like Fewobia, she had two sets of feathered wings, the flight feathers being colored in the tone of her fur.

"Hello, Fa'Lina," the lamb replied evenly. "It's been a while." She gave the small creature next to Fa'Lina a look. "Having trouble?"

"Stupid humidity!" the Warp-Aci hissed, its tail moving around erratically as it sealed the dimensional borders again. "Always messes up a clean transport. Of course, Fa'Lina gaining a few pounds doesn't exactly help since-"

"Kifo!" the tall poodle barked sharply.

"You know it's totally true," Kifo muttered. Then, with a final snap of the tail, the vortex disappeared. "There. Finally."

Fewobia snickered. "I assume you are here because of my message?" she asked, offering the fellow Succubus a seat.

"Why else would I come here? There is nothing else I could want in the area. After all, you live in the middle of nowhere, and that's coming from somebody who built a school in a place so remote that it almost counts as its own plane of existence."

"You know that I prefer peace and quiet to your little pet project," Fewobia teased the taller Succubus.

"Pet project? Oh puh-lease. The Academy has been around for a few centuries and houses Cubi from a few dozen Clans. We're all settled in!"

"Oh, I see. So... picked a wallpaper for your office yet?" The lamb smirked when she noticed Fa'Lina's uneasy expression.

"Got one last week," the poodle finally admitted, making Fewobia laugh. "It's hardly important, though!" she quickly added. "The rest of the Academy is looking great! We already got most courses running, there are two dozen full-time professors, and there haven't been any major clashes!"

"A school filled with Cubi from rival Clans and no major clashes," Fewobia mused. "Not bad, actually. Never expected you to have any success with this idea, but I admit I'm glad you proved me wrong!"

Fa'Lina let out a quiet sigh. "You're not the only one who thought that the Academy had been a lousy idea," she muttered. "And I figure it'll take a few hundred years more before it will be widely accepted as a success. But it'll be worth it." The poodle Succubus looked down at the floor, apparently lost in thought. Then, suddenly, her head snapped up again. "Speaking of which! Your message! You wrote that you know of a stray Incubus living in the village..."

"Oh, yes. Well, actually I just heard a few rumors from the neighbor village. But from what people told me, it's a young Cubi just coming into power."

"What did you hear?" Fa'Lina asked and cocked her head. It was unusual for Cubi to grow up in a village of Beings. _An orphan maybe? It seems unlikely that the parents are Cubi in disguise, otherwise they would have tought him the basics to avoid being noticed._

"Oh, the usual," Fewobia said. "Winged kid suddenly growing a second set of wings and acting strangely. You know, mood swings and stuff like that."

"Headwings already? No Clan mark, no magic, just the wings and mood swings?" Fa'Lina frowned. Most Cubi started using magic before growing their second pair of wings.

"Hey, I never met the kid. Just telling you what I heard."

"Fine, fine." Fa'Lina sighed and got up. "Can you at least give me a name?"

"Family name is 'Callempia'. No clue about the kid's first name, but he's their only son, so you should have no trouble finding him."

"That will have to do, then," the poodle said and nodded. "Let's just hope I can get through to him before they organize a small mob because of me."

"You're not going to shapeshift? Not even to hide your wings?"

Fa'Lina hesitated briefly, noticing the concern in Fewobia's voice. Many Cubi chose to use their shapeshifting abilities to blend in with the environment, but Fa'Lina had a habit of showing people her true self, even if it meant getting into a fight. _Besides,_ she figured, _there already is somebody with headwings, and nobody started a mob for him._ "No, I think I'll go in like this. If push comes to shove, I'll just teleport out with him. The village is like a powder keg, and the boy is the fuse. Once he discovers his wing tentacles or something equally obvious, the village will be after him. But maybe I can convince them that their son is better off at the Academy..."

"If you say so," the lamb said with little enthusiasm. "The village is a few minutes north from here. Hard to miss, really."

"Excellent, thank you! I'll be on my way then." Fa'Lina gave Kifo a nod. "Take us out of the village. No need to start rumors about Fewobia having strange guests." She let Kifo fly around her, its tail opening a rift between the dimensions. "Oh, and Fewobia... I meant it when I made you the offer to join me. If you want to teach at the Academy, just say so."

Fewobia opened her mouth to reply, but Fa'Lina had already been teleported out of the house.


	2. Revelations

**Revelations**

It took Fa'Lina only a few minutes to reach the village. "How quaint," she muttered when she saw the small houses. "Less than forty families, by the looks of it, and they somehow managed to pick up a stray Cubi. What are the odds?"

"Fewobia might have been wrong," Kifo whispered to her from its spot on her shoulder. "Maybe the rumor was just started by some drunk wanderers."

"I doubt it," Fa'Lina replied, walking past the first houses. "The rumors sounded pretty specific, especially the bit about a second set of wings. Few people come up with something like that on their own."

"If you say so..." Kifo muttered.

Fa'Lina ignored the doubt in the Warp-Aci's voice and approached one of the villagers, a badger. She idly scanned his emotions, detecting uneasiness, mild fear and just a bit of attraction. "Good afternoon! Could you possibly show me the way to the home of the Callempia family?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

The badger frowned briefly. "Callempia... should've known," he muttered and frowned, glancing up at her headwings.

_I knew it,_ Fa'Lina thought. _He knows about the headwings, so the rumors were most likely true!_

Still, the badger didn't seem to be afraid of Fa'Lina, most likely not knowing that headwings were an exclusive feature of the Cubi race. "See that house over there? The one next to the small shop? That's the one you're looking for."

"Thank you kindly!" she said and started walking the short distance to the house.

"He didn't sound overly happy about you wanting to see the family," Kifo observed. "You should maybe hurry before the first rumors make the round."

Fa'Lina nodded. "Possibly. But I couldn't sense paranoia or hatred, so I think we won't get pitchfork treatment already." She knocked at the door and waited.

"I'm coming... one moment..." A red-furred vixen opened the door. "What can I do for-" Her eyes widened when she noticed the headwings, and Fa'Lina did not even have to scan her emotions to detect the waves of rage and hatred. "You!" the vixen hissed. "YOU! You did this, didn't you? You did this to our son! You fu-" Her rant was cut short when Fa'Lina held the vulpine muzzle closed with her left hand. The vixen struggled briefly, but quickly realized that Fa'Lina was too strong for her.

The Succubus quickly pushed the Mrs. Callempia inside and closed the door behind them. Still holding the vixen's muzzle shut, she bowed down to her. "No, I did not do anything to your son," she whispered. "But I think I do know what is happening to him. Now... I will let go, and you won't scream or complain, okay?" The vixen nodded slowly. "Very good," Fa'Lina said and removed her hand.

"Wh-What... what is happening to my son?" Mrs. Callempia asked timidly, clearly impressed by the strength of her unexpected guest.

"If my guess is correct, he is growing up. It's just not the sort of growing up you had expected. You see-"

Before Fa'Lina could finish her explanation, another red-furred fox entered the room. "I heard the knock, who was-" he started to ask before he noticed the white-furred poodle.

"Whatever you want to say right now... don't say it," Fa'Lina quickly cut him off when she noticed his expression. "You are Mr. Callempia, I presume?" _Neither of them seems to be a Cubi, from what I can detect._

The fox opened and closed his mouth, obviously trying to figure out what would happen if he disobeyed Fa'Lina's request. In the end, his rational side got the upper hand. "Yes... yes, that is correct. And who are you?"

"My name is Fa'Lina," the Cubi answered, "and I heard... things about your son. May I talk to him? It's quite possible that I know what's going on, but I need to see him in order to make sure I'm correct."

The two foxes exchanged worried glances. "I... don't know," the father finally replied. "Maybe we should wait. We sent somebody to the next town to get a more experienced doctor... he should arrive in a few days or so..."

The Succubus clenched her fists. "Your son is just growing up! It's perfectly normal, trust me. This is no sickness." she hissed. _Quite on the contrary, actually. Should I tell them that he will most likely out-live everybody in this village? No... that would just freak them out even more..._ She sighed and shook her head. "Listen. I know you are worried about your son. But in the best case, your doctor will not know what is going on with your son."

"And in the worst case?" Mrs. Callempia asked quietly, looking at the floor.

Fa'Lina hesitated briefly. "The worst case... I guess that the worst case would be that your son kills the doctor by accident, goes on an instinct-driven killing spree and is finally killed by a group of adventurers," she finally replied, watching the vixen pale. "Please let me see him. Once I verified my assumptions, we can talk about the details."

In the end, the father was the first to nod. "He... he's upstairs. Door to the right after the stairs."

_Finally._ Fa'Lina quickly went to the stairs, trying not to smile. _Okay, relax. Now comes the harder part. You got to tell some poor kid that his midlife crisis just got massively delayed._

"Dense parents," Kifo muttered in an apparent attempt to get some attention.

"How so?" the Cubi asked, slowing down a bit on her way up.

"All this talk about unusual things going on, and neither of them asks about the black, long-tailed creature with the faint purple aura which is sitting on your shoulder."

Fa'Lina snickered. "Aw, unhappy that you're not the weirdest sight in town?" she joked. "Relax, though. Maybe their son will throw a fit about you."

"What's his name, anyway?" Kifo suddenly asked, causing Fa'Lina to freeze. The Warp-Aci gave her a look. "Let me get this straight. You're a mindreader AND you spent a few eons talking about that guy, and you still don't know his name? What are you going to tell him? 'Hello, I don't know who you are, but I do know what you are! Wanna trade information?' or something like that? I mean, sheesh, that's got to be the lame-UMPH!"

_Crap,_ Fa'Lina thought, paying no attention to the Warp-Aci, which was trying frantically to free itself from her grip. _Kifo is right, asking for the name should have been a no-brainer. Now what? Mindreading? It's tempting, but I want to go into this with as little bias as possible. Reading the mind of his mother may very well affect my judgment later on... Besides, I'm no big fan of mindreading... sometimes it just feel better to do things the old-fashioned way. I guess I'll have to go in unprepared, as much as I hate to do it._ "Let's just get it over with," she told herself and went upstairs.

"Whatever," Kifo muttered and followed its Mistress.

"How do I look?" Fa'Lina asked her Warp-Aci, straightening her fuchsia-colored dress in front of the door.

"Bossy," came the immediate reply. "But I guess it's as good as it gets unless you shapeshift..."

_Why do I get all the quirky Warp-Aci?_ Fa'Lina asked herself, making a mental note to send Kifo off to behavior training after this mission. "Fine, whatever," she muttered and knocked at the door.

"...yes?" The voice was low and filled with resignation. Fa'Lina of course had expected something like this, but it still made her sigh.

"May I come in?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful.

There was a long pause. "Who is it?" the voice finally asked, curiosity pushing away resignation for a brief moment.

"My name is Fa'Lina. And I think I know what you are going through."

She could hear him chuckle. "No, I honestly don't think you do. But sure... come in if you like."

_Here goes nothing..._ Fa'Lina opened the door and stepped into the room. "Huh," was her first reaction. Saying that the room was plain would have been an euphemism. _No pictures, no decoration... heck, even the wallpaper is just boring old grey. How can anybody live here?_ She shook her head and focused on the lone figure sitting on the bed. The winged fox was facing away from her, looking at a wall. His arms were wrapped around his knees. _Okay, I think it's certain that he was adopted,_ she thought, noticing his fur and hair colors. While his parents had a classic red fur color, their son's fur was colored in a very dark shade of grey, just a bit away from being completely black. His dark green hair was tied into a short ponytail. _Not dyed, either, considering that his wings have the same color scheme,_ she observed, taking note of the feathered, almost black wings with the dark green flight feathers. _And feathers are almost impossible to dye._

"So... you are the weird dog that gave me my freak wings?" The fox's voice was neutral, and Fa'Lina could not sense direct rage or anger in his emotions, despite the harsh words.

"No, I'm the weird dog who doesn't even know your name. And what makes you think I gave you your wings?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm Kitzi. Kitzi Callempia. And my parents told me... they say that you are responsible for this and that you will now charge them money to cure me."

Fa'Lina blinked. "When did they-... oh... of course, I see." She nodded quickly. _He's reading their minds as we speak... most likely without even knowing what he's doing._ "Your parents are worried about you. They are worried because... because you can hear them even though they are downstairs."

The fox shook his head, still not facing her. "They don't know I can hear them. Otherwise they wouldn't say all the things they do."

"Oh? Like what?"

"They say that I'm not their real son. That I... that they adopted me."

_It doesn't take a mindreader to figure_ that _one out,_ Fa'Lina thought. "You didn't know that before?"

"How should I? They never told me..." Before Fa'Lina could answer that question, Kitzi spoke again. "Anyway, I doubt you came here to discuss my parents. So... just do whatever you want to do, cure me and ask my parents for the money."

Fa'Lina opened and closed her mouth. _This is why I don't read minds unless it's important. It makes you way too biased._ "I'm not here to sell anything," she said. "I'm here to talk about you. This may be hard to accept, but the things that happened to you are completely natural."

"Heh. Sure thing. Natural." Kitzi chuckled grimly. "What kind of freak race grows extra wings and starts hearing voices?"

"The Cubi race," Fa'Lina replied evenly.

"...come again?" the fox asked, not having expected a serious answer to that question.

"You are an Incubus. A member of the Cubi race. The headwings are completely normal, and the voices you hear are the thoughts of your parents. You are reading their minds without even realizing it." There was a long pause as Kitzi apparently tried to wrap his mind around the concept of belonging to another race. _Even though it's hard to tell since he won't even look at me._

"Wait," Kitzi suddenly said, and Fa'Lina could hear him snickering softly. "I can't hear your thoughts. Does that mean that there's nothing to read in your mind?"

"I kinda like the kid," Kifo whispered into Fa'Lina's ear, ignoring her angry expression.

"No, it means that my mind is shielded against this sort of idle mindreading," Fa'Lina said slowly, trying not to growl.

There was a pause again as Kitzi pondered about that. "Who are you?" he finally asked, his voice sounding serious again. "You seem to be fairly skilled and well-informed."

"I am called Fa'Lina. And like you, I'm a member of the Cubi race. A Succubus, to be precise."

"You are?" Kitzi asked, sounding surprised. "Does that mean you got wings on your head, too?"

"Why certainly," Fa'Lina told him and smirked. "And you know, you could just turn around and take a look for yourself." Her smile faded when she felt a brief wave of anger and sadness coming from the young Incubus.

"No, Fa'Lina... I really don't think so," Kitzi whispered and slowly turned around on the bed. He got to his feet and approached her.

_I'm missing something here. There is something wrong with all of this... the way he moves, the way he acts... his emotions..._ Fa'Lina frowned. Then it hit her. _His eyes. They're not focused on anything..._ She shook her head in disbelief.

"I have some trouble taking a look at you... or anything else, actually," Kitzi told her and shrugged apologetically.

"Dear God... you're blind." Fa'Lina didn't even bother to phrase it as a question.

"You kinda suck at this whole mindreading stuff, don't you?" the fox asked and smirked. "Because even I can hear my parents thinking that word in every other sentence about me."


	3. The Offer

**The Offer**

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ Fa'Lina felt tempted to smack her forehead. All the oddities she had noticed suddenly made sense. _No pictures or fancy wallpaper styles since he can't see them anyway. And he never figured out that his fur doesn't match the fur of his parents because nobody ever told him! And of course, he has no reason for curious glances, either._ She let out a sigh. "Sorry, it's just that nobody told me about that..."

Kitzi shrugged. "It's okay. I actually told my parents not to rub it into the face of every guest. It always made me feel like some sort of cripple who needs special treatment."

"Hm... makes sense, I guess," Fa'Lina admitted. "Since when have you been... I mean, since when can't you-"

"Blind. The word is 'blind'. It's not a bad word, so you don't have to find a nice euphemism for it." Kitzi gave her a hint of a smile. "And to answer your question, I've been blind all my life."

Fa'Lina frowned deeply. "Oh, I'm sorr-"

"Don't," Kitzi quickly interrupted her. "Don't say you're sorry." He sighed loudly. "That's what everybody says, and then they go on to say how much it must suck to be me because there is oh-so-much I can't see."

"You sound bitter."

"I'm not... Not really, at least. It's just that I don't feel that I'm really missing anything. I don't know what it's like to actually see stuff, so how should I miss it?"

She cocked her head. "But you do know that others can experience more than you can."

"True, true. But I grew up without sight, and I learned to live with it. So the others are really just experiencing more. I'm not experiencing less." He hesitated. "If that makes any sense..."

"It's certainly an interesting way of dealing with things," Fa'Lina admitted.

"You're tall, aren't you?" Kitzi suddenly changed the subject, adjusting his posture a bit to face her better. "What kind of dog gets that tall? Labrador, maybe?"

Fa'Lina chuckled. "Poodle, but my height isn't a racial thing."

"Good thing, too," Kifo muttered. "Imagine if all poodles were-"

"Who is that?" Kitzi shouted and took a few quick steps backwards. "I didn't hear anybody else coming in!"

"It's okay, Kitzi!" Fa'Lina quickly assured the startled fox. "That was just Kifo. It's my Warp-Aci."

"Warp-what?" Kitzi asked and raised an eyebrow.

Fa'Lina didn't need to read his emotions to be able to tell that he was distressed. "Warp-Aci. They're small creatures, just the size of your head. We use them for transportation."

Kitzi opened and closed his mouth. "...you ride on such a tiny creature?" he finally asked, trying to hide his silly grin.

"Ch-Ya! In her non-existent dreams!" Kifo hopped off Fa'Lina's shoulder and floated around Kitzi's head. "Let's just hope you didn't give her any ideas, budd-HEY!" The Warp-Aci snapped when Kitzi snatched it out of the air.

"You... float?" the Incubus asked, paying no attention to Kifo's struggles.

"How VERY observant of you!" Kifo remarked, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of its voice.

Kitzi shook the Warp-Aci experimentally, marvelling at its weight. Or rather: At the lack of weight. "How do you transport anything? Surely not by lifting it..."

If Kifo had had teeth, it would have given Kitzi a toothy grin. "Oh... would you like to find it out...?" it asked, its tail twitching in anticipation.

"Kifo, NO," Fa'Lina growled. She didn't think that the Warp-Aci would actually teleport Kitzi to some remote location, but she also knew that it had a fairly odd sense of humor. "Kifo is a Warp-Aci. You know... a WARP-Aci. Take a guess how it transports people."

"...oh. OH." Kitzi quickly let go of the black creature. "...how?" he finally asked, making her groan.

_We should be talking about the Cubi race, not about the way a Warp-Aci works!_ Fa'Lina thought and rubbed her temples, thankful for Kitzi's inability to see the gesture. "Long story short: It can cut a hole into the dimensional fabric, thus relocating everybody in a certain area."

Kitzi blinked. Then he blinked again, for good measure. "Please tell me you're kidding," he finally said.

"I'm not." Fa'Lina sighed. "But I didn't come here to talk about dimensional travel," she hinted.

"Errrr, right! Right!" Kitzi hesitated briefly. "Sorry, I sometimes get a bit carried away. There... there's a seat at my desk." He silently moved his lips, as if mentally going down a list. "Oh, right! Can I offer you anything?"

Fa'Lina chuckled and grabbed the wooden chair. "No, thanks. Your current output is enough to feed half a Clan." She carefully watched his reaction.

Kitzi froze on his way to the bed. "My current... output?" he finally asked. Then he briefly sniffed the robe he was wearing, causing Fa'Lina to laugh. "It's not _that_ bad..."

"No, silly, I'm talking about emotions," she told him as she sat down on the chair.

"This... sounds like girl talk," Kitzi said, frowning lightly. "I must warn you, I never really understood-"

"No," the Succubus interrupted him, "it's not girl talk. It's about Cubi traits and abilities. And I think you should at least know about the most important ones now that you are a Cubi who is slowly coming into power."

"Is one of those abilities the ability to turn off mindreading? I wouldn't even mind hearing the voices, but the background noise is giving me a headache."

_Background noise? There shouldn't be any sort of noise, not even for an inexperienced Cubi..._ Fa'Lina frowned. "I can put a shield on you," she offered and got up. "It will only be a temporary fix, but it should do the trick for the moment." She walked over to him and placed a hand on his head. "Hold still for a moment," she whispered and closed her eyes, letting the magic flow. "Better?" she asked after a few seconds.

Kitzi cocked his head, his ears twitching lightly. "Much better!" he finally told her and smiled widely. "Thank you kindly, the noise was driving me mad..."

_Again with the noise,_ Fa'Lina thought. _I should ask Ink about that later._ "It's okay. You will have to learn how to control your mindreading soon, though. Not even to mention your other abilities..."

"What abilities? Other than mindreading and having more wings than I need, of course." With the distraction of the constantly-running mindreading gone, the boy seemed much more focused.

"Well, let's see," Fa'Lina replied, sitting down on the chair again. "Cubi can 'eat' emotions. The feelings and emotions of others supply us with energy, just like regular food does. This also means that, given a steady supply of emotions, Cubi don't need to eat regular food anymore."

"That... sounds kinda creepy," Kitzi admitted, not looking overly thrilled. "Reminds me of those vampire stories I heard when I was younger."

"In a way, yes. But this is mostly a passive ability, so you are not 'draining your victim' or anything. Emotions are just floating around, and we have the ability to convert them to energy." Fa'Lina decided not to mention the more... active version of this feeding process for the time being. _He doesn't strike me as the type who will be happy to learn that he can eat somebody's soul..._

"That doesn't sound too bad..." the Incubus scratched his head. "So I'm doing it right now? Or would I feel something special?"

"Well, are you hungry?" Fa'Lina asked.

"Not really," Kitzi said and frowned. "Come to think of it, I think I missed lunch today..."

Fa'Lina smiled. "Then I guess you're doing it already. See? Not creepy at all."

"I guess..." The fox was silent for a while. Fa'Lina waited patiently, knowing that it would take him a while to fully accept all of this. "Fa'Lina?" He finally asked. "Why are you here?"

"Would you believe that I just happened to be in the neighborhood?" she asked him back.

Kitzi gave her a look - quite a feat for somebody who couldn't look at anything. "No, I don't really think I would."

The poodle chuckled. "Very well then, how about this? There is a Succubus living in the other village. She told me that there is a stray Incubus in this village."

"That explains how you ended up here, but not why. And no, I won't believe that you just came by to cure me of my headache."

"Straight to the point, eh?" Fa'Lina smirked. "Sooner or later, you will discover the full range of your abilities. And then, two things may happen. Either you harm or even kill a villager by accident because you can't properly control your powers, or the villagers realize that you are an Incubus and organize a hunting party." She watched the boy's jaw drop. "Either way, things won't be pretty if you stay around here like this."

Kitzi's headwings fluttered nervously while he licked his lips. "So... you're telling me that I have to flee?"

"I'm telling you that you should go to a school where you have the chance to develop your powers. It will take a while, but you will be able to live in peace among other Cubi."

"Take a while?" Kitzi asked and started to pace. "I'm 20 already, and I haven't even studied for a job. If I spend a few years in some school just to get my body under control, I'll be almost too old to actually earn some money to start my own family!"

"I... wouldn't worry about that," Fa'Lina replied carefully.

Kitzi stopped pacing. "...why not?"

Fa'Lina took a deep breath. "The maximum age of a Cubi is... somewhat higher than that of a regular Being." When Kitzi didn't ask the obvious question, she sighed. "Our average lifespan is in the area of three thousand years, give or take a few millennia."

"Three THOUSAND years?" Kitzi shuddered visibly and stumbled back to his bed. He sat down and buried his head in his hands. "Three millennia or more... my God... I think the village was built only a few hundred years ago... I'll outlive... well, anybody here. And the generation after that. And the generation after _that_." He shook his head in disbelief.

For a few minutes, neither of them spoke. Eventually, Kitzi sighed deeply. "I really can't stay here, can I?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Not for long," Fa'Lina replied calmly. "If it was up to me, I would tell you to start packing before some of the more... noticeable powers kick in."

The fox nodded slowly. "You mentioned a school..."

"Yes. SAIA is one of a kind, built in a location-"

"Say-what-a?" Kitzi interrupted her and cocked his head.

"SAIA. S-A-I-A. Short for 'Succubus And Incubus Academy'."

"A school for... people like me?"

"Exactly," Fa'Lina said and nodded. "It's a safe haven, completely out of the reach of Beings."

"Does that mean... that my parents won't be able to visit me? Or even to write me?"

"It's a necessity. Once you enter SAIA, you will lose contact with the outside world for a good while." Noticing his deep frown, she added, "It's for your own good, Kitzi. You have never felt the wrath of xenophobia, and for that, I envy you. People out there _hate_ us. They _fear_ us. If I opened a path to SAIA, adventurers would immediately start to organize a raid."

"How long would my stay there last?" Kitzi asked, trying to hide his frustration.

"That depends on what you choose to specialize in. We offer more than just basic survival skills, and all students are encouraged to pursue their personal goals."

A sigh. "How long?"

"At least a few years, maybe a decade or two," Fa'Lina told him. "And that's just to learn the bare minimum, like keeping your powers under full control over long periods of time and blending in so people don't notice that you're an Incubus."

"Ten or twenty years," he whispered and shook his head. "Does every Cubi have to make such a decision so quickly?"

"Most Cubi grow up in their Clans, among other Cubi. They don't have to worry about being different, and they receive training and information all the time. Going to SAIA is just advanced training for them. Your case is special, since we don't even know what Clan you belong to or how you ended up here."

The fox nodded slowly. "Fine... What's the plan?"

Fa'Lina smiled. "I suggest you spend the rest of the day with your family. Maybe catch up with some of your history. Then, tonight, you pack your things. No need for much clothing, just whatever small personal items you might miss, and things you'd need in a school if it's something special. No need to buy anything, we're well equipped." She gave Kifo a look. "Tomorrow around noon, I'll send Kifo into your room to pick you up. Is that okay with you?"

After taking a deep breath, Kitzi nodded. "Yes... yes, I think so. I didn't have other plans, anyway. And there's not too much I need to pack."

"Excellent!" Fa'Lina exclaimed. "I'll have a quick talk with your parents, and then I'll head back to the Academy. I'll see you tomorrow, then!"

"I guess you will!" Kitzi replied with a smirk, making Fa'Lina laugh. He stood there as Fa'Lina left the room and walked down the stairs. "Emotional energy... still sounds like girl talk to me..." he finally muttered and shrugged.


	4. Welcome to the Academy

**Welcome... to the Academy**

"Kifo should be here by now..." Kitzi was pacing in his room, carefully avoiding the two small bags that contained some of his belongings. Since Fa'Lina had told him not to pack much in terms of clothing or regular school equipment, he had only needed to pack a few personal items, including things like a relief image of his parents.

After what felt like hours, the air in Kitzi's room started to crack audibly. Suppressing a startled yelp, Kitzi jumped away from the center of the room. Seconds later, the cracking and buzzing died down again. "The Warp-Aci Express is ready to go!" Kifo shouted.

"Sheesh, do you always make so much noise when you do the warping stuff?" Kitzi asked, nervously straightening his light grey robe.

"Aw, you should hear the sounds during mating season!" Kifo replied, floating around the fox's head.

"...please tell me you're kidding," Kitzi groaned, suddenly being very happy for not getting visual mental images. "That much noise during-... can you actually-... I mean..."

"Well, only during _our_ mating season..." The Warp-Aci was clearly enjoying itself. "When watching others, we can be surprisingly quiet."

Kitzi's face was a mask of horror. "Did anybody tell you that you're extremely creepy?"

"Today? Not yet, actually."

"Right... fine. Whatever." He sighed and tried to focus on the here and now. "Should I take my bags somewhere special?" He pointed in the general direction of his bags.

"Center of the room would be fine," Kifo advised him. "Transporting basically requires me to fly around you and whatever you want to take with you. So the center of the room lets me avoid crashing into furniture and stuff like that."

"Sounds like a plan," Kitzi said and quickly grabbed his bags.

"Not going to tell your parents good-bye?"

The question made Kitzi freeze briefly. "No, we did that before... Decided not to make a big scene moments before my departure." He sighed quietly.

"Good thinking!" Kifo praised him. "Last time we had a departure with a large audience, somebody wanted to give the passenger a last-minute hug while I was already doing my thing. Aaaaand, well, everything inside the circle goes, everything outside the circle stays..."

Kitzi shuddered. "Right... right... keep arms and legs inside the circle until you're done... got it."

"You're a quick learner!" Kifo cheered and hopped onto his shoulder. "Ready when you are!"

Standing next to his bags, Kitzi faced the Warp-Aci. "Is that close enough for you?"

"Sure! As long as you don't start jumping around like crazy, there will be more than enough space! Shall we start?"

"I... errr..." Kitzi hesitated. _This is it. The moment I leave the house I've lived in for the last 20 years,_ he thought. _Hopefully, I'll return one day. And maybe I'll even meet my parents... even though they'll be in their sixties or so. Ah well. This isn't the time to muse about the distant future..._ "Yes, let's go..." he whispered and took a deep breath.

The air once again cracked and buzzed briefly. Kitzi inadvertently held his breath until the sounds stopped again. "Ding, first floor... lingerie, bakery, melee weapons, aaaand Fa'Lina's office," Kifo announced. "In other words, we're there," it quickly translated when it noticed Kitzi's confused expression.

"Oh... good, good... and still in one piece, I think," Kitzi whispered and let out a sigh. "Now what?"

"Good question... I expected Fa'Lina to be here... guess something came up." The Warp-Aci sat down on Kitzi's shoulder while it pondered about the situation. "Let's just wait here for now."

Kitzi used the delay to get used to the sudden location change. Judging by the sound of their voices, the room was a bit larger than any of the rooms in his home. And a few deep breaths told him that the room was well-kept, the scent reminding him of his room when he had received new furniture. _Smells... polished. A massive wooden table, I guess..._ He carefully reached out with his hands and, after a careful step, felt the smooth surface of what he assumed was a table. _Bingo,_ he congratulated himself. _But I can't rely on everything smelling in a way I can detect._ With a few well-trained movements, he let his collapsible cane drop out of the right sleeve of his robe and into his hand. Within seconds, he had extended it to its full length.

"WHOA!" Kifo yelled. "Bad stick! BAD! You got complaints, you tell the management!"

"Sheesh, relax," Kitzi told the Warp-Aci. "I just use it to detect obstacles in front of me," he continued, letting the tip of the cane sweep over the ground.

"Ohhh... that's pretty clever!" Kifo gave the cane a few experimental pokes. "You know, we could tie a few rags to the end on the ground! Then you'd clean up a few corridors while you move through the building!"

Kitzi chuckled. "Sadly enough, you're not the first one to crack that joke."

"Seriously? Darn... and I had been so proud of it!"

"Sorry, maybe next time. Trust me, there should be plenty of opportu-"

"Shhh!" the Warp-Aci suddenly hissed. "Getting a call."

Kitzi blinked. _A call? What kind of call? I can't hear anything..._

"Ohhhh... I see. Kitzi, come along, I got new instructions!"

"How did you get... a call?" Kitzi asked, following Kifo's voice back to the place where his bags were.

"Telepathy!" came the quick response. "Fa'Lina sometimes uses it, but she's not a major fan of it, so you can imagine what kinda stuff she's in right now."

Kitzi didn't even try to imagine any stuff Fa'Lina could be in. He was still stuck at the first word. "Telepathy? She can do that?"

"You can't?" Kifo asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"I... don't know, actually. Can I?" _I should maybe find out these things before I start getting "calls" inside my head,_ Kitzi decided and frowned. "Anyway, what's th-EEP!" he yelped when he heard the familiar buzzing and cracking again. "Give me a warning next time!" he snapped even as the sounds died down.

"Aw, didn't you _see_ that coming?" Kifo asked and snickered, indicating that it had chosen its words on purpose.

"Yeah, maybe I should try to _see_ things from your point of _view_ more often," Kitzi replied with a smirk.

"I like you!" the Warp-Aci said. "I got the feeling that you'll fit right in!" It landed on his shoulder again. "Anyway, this is your room. Room 9 3/4! A fitting number for a wizardry school!"

"...what?" Kitzi asked in disbelief. _What idiot assigns numbers like that? That got to be a joke!_ The light draft that was typical for long corridors told him that Kifo had most likely dropped him off in front of his door. Quickly, he reached out and let his hands slide over the door until he found the relief of a number. "Number 256," he sighed. _Gotta memorize that... assuming that this really is my room._

"Yeah... that joke's been Fa'Lina's idea," Kifo admitted. "Nobody actually gets it, not even me. All this talk about its connection to some wizardry school just confuses people, but Fa'Lina claims that she's just being 'ahead of her time' or something like that. I say she's just plain nuts, but does this woman ever listen to her Warp-Aci? Besides, how-"

"Kifo?" Kitzi asked, interrupting the stream of words. "Is this my room?"

There was a long pause as Kifo was contemplating whether or not to say something annoying. In the end, the Warp-Aci decided against it. "Yup. The first digit means that the room is two floors above the ground floor, by the way."

"Wonderful. You got the key?"

"You don't get any keys," was Kifo's reply.

Kitzi growled. "Listen. The room number thing was a silly joke, but this is kinda pushing it. So just give me the keys so I can find my way around before I'm being shoved into my courses."

"No, students really get no keys!" Kifo said, sounding serious for a change. "The lock is only there as a sort of backup for non-Cubi staff members!"

"And how do the students get in?" the Cubi asked, not bothering to hide his confusion.

"You just know that the door is unlocked."

Kitzi opened and closed his mouth. "What are you talking about? Is this some exercise in wishful thinking? Is endless optimism some Cubi power nobody told me about?"

"No." Kifo sighed dramatically. "Sheesh. The door is enchanted. If you touch it and tell yourself it's unlocked, then the door recognizes it. The rest of the time, it's locked. And of course, other students will be locked out unless you allow them in."

_This is ridiculous,_ Kitzi told himself when he touched the doorknob. _But whatever. Might as well give it a try._ "The door is... unlocked," he whispered, and to his amazement, the door opened.

"There. What'd I tell you?"

"You've been telling me many things," Kitzi replied. _Including some things that are hopefully not true..._

Kifo floated past Kitzi's head and into the room. "Eh, you've seen one of those rooms, you've seen them all," it muttered.

Kitzi carefully stepped into the room and placed the bags next to the door. Judging by the way Kifo's voice sounded, Kitzi guessed that the room was slightly smaller than Fa'Lina's office. The sound of singing birds was also gone, telling him that, unlike his room or Fa'Lina's office, his new room did not have any windows. _Not much of a loss, even though I kinda liked the sun's warmth. Oh well, I don't have to stay in here all day, so I'll manage._ Using his cane, he started to map out the room in his head. He quickly found two tall closets, a fairly large table and a bed. A second door led to a bathroom, but Kitzi chose to map it out later. After a few additional sweeps with the cane, he found two smaller drawers and scratched his head. "Kifo?"

"Yes?" a voice asked straight into his right ear.

"Don't DO THAT!" Kitzi yelped and stumbled away from the voice.

"Heh, sorry! Couldn't resist! But what is it?"

Kitzi rubbed his temples. "Just do a visual verification for me. Are there two closets and two drawers in this room?"

"Sure. One set is in your corner, and the other one at the other end of the room."

"Is there a reason for that?" the fox asked and cocked his head.

"One set is for you, and the other set is for your roommate."

_I got a roommate? Interesting..._ "Any idea who my roommate is?"

"Sorry, but nope," Kifo replied. "Fa'Lina doesn't tell me such details, so I'm as clueless as you are. Well, okay... maybe not quite as clueless as you are."

"Gee, thanks," Kitzi shook his head. "So, does that roommate have more of a clue about what I have to do next?"

"He or she could certainly show you around," Kifo mused. "There are a few... procedures to go through, and I won't be able to stay around much longer, anyway."

"You're leaving?"

"Sorry, but my job basically ended when I dropped you off here. But think of it this way: You're not expected to go anywhere on your own, so just sit back and relax for now." And with that, the Warp-Aci hopped out of the room.

"Five minutes at SAIA, and I'm stranded already." Kitzi rubbed his temples again. "And I think I'm getting a headache. Super."


	5. Roommates

**Roommates**

"Out of my way, mortals!" Kifo shouted as it came around a corner, its tail lashing out like a whip at random students who just happened to be in the corridor.

_Annoying little pests,_ a mouse thought and rolled his eyes. _Always so pushy and... annoying._ He briefly cursed, making a mental note to look up a few synonyms of that word for later use.

"You!" the Warp-Aci snapped, hovering in front of his face. "You don't like me! I can tell!" It came closer and lowered its voice. "I can read it in your mind."

"No you can't," the mouse Incubus answered calmly. "You can see it in my face, you little... annoyance." The mental note got upgraded to an urgent task on his To-do List. "I, on the other hand, can make you forget your own name." He allowed himself a smirk. "Or I can just strip off your mental shields and let anybody prance through your mind, picking out whatever secrets your Mistress shared with you."

Kifo paled, or at least it did the closest thing a creature seemingly made out of pure darkness is capable of. "But... but... but I'd tell Fa'Lina that it was you who did it! Ha!"

"Not if I make you forget that part," the mouse said, letting his blue eyes glow softly. "That is, after all, my speciality..."

The Warp-Aci shuddered, but quickly recovered. "I shall forgive you this one time!" it shouted, trying to appear to be in control. The mouse just smirked and bowed. "And now, I shall take my leave!" Kifo announced and floated away.

The Incubus chuckled and shook his head. _Memo to self: Set up anti-teleportation wards in my room._ He briefly thought about other countermeasures, but eventually decided that one ward would be enough. _Besides, Kifo's mostly bantering for the sake of doing it, just like I would never actually consider wiping his memory. I'm usually the prime suspect whenever somebody forgets something, anyway... so there's no need to live up to my reputation just for a few cheap laughs._ He sighed and opened the door to his room.

"What the-" he started when he noticed another Incubus sitting on his bed. It was a dark grey fox with green hair, fiddling with a staff of some sort. "What are you doing in my room?" he snapped, his eyes doing a quick scan of his room to check if anything was missing. "How'd you get in here?" _Kifo. Must've been that little prankster. Oh God, I hope this isn't yet another exotic dancer!_

"Oh, hello!" the fox said and smiled. "My name it Kitzi. Kitzi Callempia." The fox got up, slowly walked over to the mouse... and hesitated. "Wait... the height's all wrong... how tall are you? Your voice sounds as if it came from further down..."

"If this is your idea of a smart joke about my size, I have to inform you that it's not funny," the mouse hissed.

"I apologize! I didn't mean to insult you!" Kitzi took a step back and held up his hands.

The smaller Cubi rolled his eyes. _Sure, whatever. Rub it in and then say you didn't mean it._ "You're lucky that I'm no fan of violence. Other mice in my position would have broken your kneecaps by now."

"...you're a mouse?" the fox asked with a surprised expression. "I've only heard of mice so far, my village had none..." He briefly bit his lower lip. "This is going to sound weird, but may I touch your face? It helps me to learn more ab-"

"Whoa there, STOP. " The mouse held up his hands. "We're not dating here, so I won't even discuss foreplay with you! You may look, but you may not touch, okay?"

Kitzi let out a deep sigh. "Right. Right. My mistake. I keep forgetting that I'm not in the village, where everybody knows of my situation... Let's try this again." He leaned down, giving the mouse a close-up look of his face. "Hi, my name is Kitzi. And I _can't look_."

"What do you mean-" the mouse muttered and blinked. _His eyes aren't focusing on me,_ he suddenly noticed. After waving his hand before the fox's eyes a few times, he cursed. "My God... you're blind, aren't you?"

"Well... yes," the fox replied and smiled apologetically. "I guess that blind Cubi are kinda rare, right?"

_Blind Cubi are_ kinda _rare? I never even heard of a single one._ The smaller Incubus nodded, staring straight into Kitzi's unfocused eyes. _And people say that_ I'm _creepy._ "Yeah... I think rare is a good word," he finally whispered.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. Finally, Kitzi broke the silence. "Uhm, right... I think the whole blindness issue kinda killed your chance to introduce yourself..."

"Oh, right! I'm Dante!" the mouse said and held out his hand. When the fox didn't shake it, Dante mentally slapped himself and placed it into Kitzi's right hand.

"Ah, pleased to meet you!" the fox said, shaking the offered hand eagerly. "Uhm, I think I'm your new roommate...?"

Dante blinked. "Are you sure?" he asked and frowned.

"Well... no. I'm not sure of anything at this point. Kifo just told me that this was my room and left me here."

_I knew it,_ Dante thought and groaned. "Okay, I think you've been set up. Kifo loves to do pranks like that. Never believe anything that Warp-Aci says until you've double-checked it." He tried to think of a plan. "You're new here, right?"

"Literally arrived five minutes ago, yes..." the fox replied, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you with this..."

"No, no... it's okay, really. We just gotta find your room." _Now what? If Fa'Lina didn't welcome him yet, I have to assume she's busy. But without her, finding his room will be a major pain. I can't possible let him try to open each door until one finally opens, and I-_ His train of thought came to a screeching halt when he noticed a letter on the table. "Hold on..." he muttered and picked it up. "Dear Dante... blah blah blah... hereby assign Kitzi as..." He raised an eyebrow. "...your new roomate. Signed, Fa'Lina. Well, damn. This _is_ your room." He blinked in surprise. _Why did she assign him to my room?_ Dante asked himself. _I've been living alone ever since the tenth roommate left within a day._

"You... don't sound pleased..." Kitzi said slowly. "I... I'm sure I can just ask for another room if you're uncomfortable with this..."

Dante gave him a look. "You're worried that _I'm_ uncomfortable?" he asked, failing to hide his surprise.

"I don't know... it's just that you don't sound overly thrilled by all of this..."

The mouse sighed. "It's not that," he told the fox. _Might as well get it over with..._ "I'm a member of the Hadruroh Clan," he whispered and closed his eyes, preparing himself for the worst.

"That's a nice name..." Kitzi told him, making Dante blink.

"You... you're not angry or freaked out?" the mouse asked, briefly scanning the fox's emotions, but failing to detect any negative vibes.

Kitzi gave him a confused look. "Why should I be freaked out?"

_Well,_ that _hasn't happened before,_ Dante thought and raised an eyebrow. "You're not really up to date with Clan history, are you?" he asked carefully.

"Clan... that's the group Cubi live in, right?" Kitzi asked and chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, the first time I'd heard of that word was yesterday, so I'm not really sure how-"

"Whoa, wait!" Dante interrupted him. "You're a Cubi... and you don't know about Clans? At all?"

"Nope, sorry. Grew up in a small village-"

"Filled with Cubi?"

"Errr, no. Filled with villagers." Kitzi shrugged. "From what I know, my parents adopted me. Or found me. Or something. They didn't really tell me."

_He's an orphan. He doesn't know about my Clan._ Dante smiled. _This might work... as long as I don't tell him about-... no. No. He'll find it out sooner or later anyway, so I should tell him._ He gritted his teeth. _But then he'll leave. Number eleven!_

"What's wrong with your Clan?" Kitzi suddenly asked.

Dante opened and closed his mouth. "It... it's a long story," he stammered, one hand nervously brushing through his light blue hair without touching his bat-like headwings. When he noticed Kitzi's expression, he let out a sigh. "My Clan's speciality is mindreading and, more to the point, erasing memories. And a few hundred years ago, my Clan decided to go all out." He rubbed his eyes with one hand, trying to keep his voice even. "They raided a village of Beings. Raped pretty much everybody in sight, killed a few and then they... they wiped them all clean. No memories of the event were left in their heads."

Kitzi shuddered and started to pace. "This... this can't... you're not serious... I mean..." he stammered and shook his head. Dante could feel the extreme levels of disgust and uneasiness in the younger Cubi and let out a sigh.

"It's the truth. And the other Clans somehow got wind of it. Nobody knows exactly how, but word got out, and it had a negative effect on the relationship with the other Clans."

"No kidding," Kitzi muttered. "I mean... we're talking about rape and murder!"

Dante blinked. "No. Many Clans were actually okay with that. They were just afraid that my Clan might try to mind-wipe other Clans, especially ones with worse shielding techniques."

"WHAT?" Kitzi yelled and clenched his fists.

"Easy, easy!" Dante hissed, carefully moving a few steps away. "You're obviously not up to date with our mentality, so let me expl-"

"Mentality?" Kitzi snapped. "It's a completely psycho mentality! What kind of sicko would be okay with this kind of insanity?"

Dante could feel something happening to Kitzi, but he wasn't sure what it was. _Magic? Doubt it. But it does feel like some... raw ability coming to life. I should maybe try to get this under control before things spin out of control._ "Kitzi, look. You should maybe try to see things from another perspective..."

"Another perspective? What other perspective is there when you're talking about RAPE AND MURDER?"

"I'm just saying that-WHOA!" Dante yelped, barely managing to dodge the tentacle that had lashed out at his head. He didn't have to take a look at Kitzi to know that the tentacle was coming out of the fox's wing. _Wonderful! His wing tentacles chose the dumbest moment to show themselves!_

"What's going on?" Kitzi asked loudly, unable to hide his concern. "Dante?"

"Kitzi, listen to me, you-" He stopped speaking when he noticed another tentacle forming. _Not good,_ he told himself. Then he noticed that each of the tentacles ended in a small cobra head. _Not good at all._ "Kitzi, I-" Both heads swung in his direction and hissed quietly. Dante frowned. _The heads... don't have eyes?_ He stared at one of the cobra heads, which was tasting the air with flicks of its tongue. _Of course, they're as blind as Kitzi is! So all I have to do is stay quiet and hope that they can't pick up my scent from over there... and... and then what?_

"Dante? What's that hissing sound?" Kitzi slowly turned around, apparently trying to locate the source of the noise. "Come on, that's not funny... say something!"

_Dammit. He needs to calm down in order to make the tentacles stop, but he won't calm down because the tentacles don't stop._ Dante rolled his eyes. _Okay, think. You got a young Incubus who apparently has no control over his powers. As long as you stay quiet, you're relatively safe, but the longer you stay quiet, the more he freaks out. If only there was a way to-... oh, duh. He most likely can't filter or block emotions yet!_ He held out a hand and carefully set up a fake layer of emotions that he projected at Kitzi. _I'm happy. I'm calm. Everything is peachy. No need to worry about anything. Don't you think so, Kitzi? You can feel it, can't you? You're a Cubi, you can sense my emotions. You can feel that I'm calm and happy._ He smirked. _And if I force-feed you enough of these emotions, I should be able to flood you..._

Kitzi let out a long sigh. "Dante? Something is... happening... but... it's not too bad, I guess..." the fox whispered slowly, his tentacles retreating back into his wings until they were completely gone.

"Relax, Kitzi..." Dante said quietly and carefully approached the younger Incubus. "You're relaxed, aren't you?"

"Yeah... yeah, I guess so... what happened?"

Dante led Kitzi to the bed and let him sit down. "I assume you're not familiar with your powers yet, right?"

Kitzi shook his head. "I guess not... Well, I do know of the mindreading and the age parts... and I know I don't have to eat because of emotions or something like that..."

"Yeah, that are some of your powers," Dante told him and hopped onto the bed himself. "But there is more. One of our powers is the ability to shapeshift."

"Shapeshift? You mean, like, turning into other people and stuff?"

"Among other things, yes. The thing is that the key of this ability lies in our wings. All shapeshifting starts there."

The blind fox shook his head. "How is shapeshifting connected to the hissing?"

"Well... our wings can... how should I put it... they can grow tentacles."

There was a long pause. "Tentacles," Kitzi finally repeated.

"Tentacles. And some Cubi have tentacles ending in small animal heads."

Kitzo opened and closed his mouth. "Please tell me you ate some weird 'shrooms before coming here."

Dante chuckled. "Sorry, but that's the truth. The hissing you heard were your own tentacle heads. And they were acting on subconscious orders."

"What sort of animal makes such noises?"

"Cobra," Dante replied, keeping an eye on Kitzi's wings, just in case.

"So you're telling me that I accidentally summoned... cobra-headed tentacles? And they were doing what exactly?"

"They tried to attack me. Most likely because you were getting all worked up over the Clan history thing."

"My God," Kitzi whispered, burying his face in his hands. "This is so horribly messed up... I'm a monster!"

Dante tried to smile. "No, you're not. You just need to learn how to control these things. And that begins with controlling your emotions."

"Oh, joy," Kitzi muttered. "Here we go again with the emotions."

"Easy, easy. Just try to stay calm, and you'll be fine. The tentacle heads reflect your mood. So as long as you are calm, happy or neutral, they might not even show themselves." _Most of the time,_ he silently added. "However, when you're highly irritated or angry, they will try to 'help' you."

"You got these things, too?"

"Wing tentacles?" Dante asked. "Every Cubi has those. Not everybody has tentacle heads, though. My tentacles, for example, don't have heads." He gave Kitzi a look. "There's a reason for that, too. Would you like to hear it?"

"Not now... I'm too busy feeling like a freak to pay attention to your story..."

"Well, if it makes you feel better: Right now, any Cubi in the Academy would be able to stop you if you went on an accidental berserker run."

Kitzi gave him a look with his empty eyes. "You're not very experienced in the 'make people feel better' field, are you?" he asked and smirked lightly.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Dante said and chuckled. "Few people come to me when they want to be comforted."

"Oh, right. The whole part where you rape and murder villagers."

The mouse gritted his teeth. "I don't," he hissed. "Those events happened before my birth. I'm a very easy-going and peaceful guy, actually." He rubbed his temples and sighed. "I wouldn't do stuff like that, but others would. Easily. And often."

"Don't you guys have... laws against that? I mean, against murder and rape and what-else-not-"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Right... right... this must sound weird to you since you grew up in a village filled with Beings. How should I put it? You, Kitzi are not a Being. Beings are not your equal. Keep that in mind. You're an Incubus, and that means that you out-everything most Beings. You live longer, you can read minds, you can shapeshift, you can do magic and you can eat emotions and souls." When he noticed Kitzi's shocked expression, he stopped. "Wait. Which part didn't you know?"

"...the soul-eating one..." Kitzi whispered.

"Oh. My bad... uhm..." Dante mentally slapped himself again. _Great going! You're really good at making him feel comfortable!_ "But there is something important to keep in mind, Kitzi!"

"Like what?" Kitzi asked, wrapping his arms around himself.

"It's completely up to you if you use any of these powers. Nobody expects you to kill or harm people. You're here to learn and to train. You will be taught how to do all of these things, but nobody will order you to use your powers in a particular way."

Kitzi said nothing for a minute, going over the information. "So you're saying that some Cubi do these horrible things simply because they feel that Beings are not their equals? And these things are not against our laws, but some Cubi still frown upon them?"

"Basically, that's the way it goes, yeah." Dante smiled. _Kid's pretty rational once he stops freaking out._

"And you have issues making friends because of something your Clan can do?"

Dante sighed. "Pretty much, yeah. Cubi who come here from their Clans know what my Clan did, and they were taught to stay away from Hadruroh Cubi because we can easily rush past most of the weaker mental barriers and make them forget their own name."

"And... you can do that, right?" Kitzi asked carefully.

"Many Cubi can do that," Dante corrected him. "My Clan just has much less trouble doing it. It's a talent."

Kitzi steepled his fingers. "But you, personally, wouldn't do that, right?"

A smile appeared on Dante's face. "No, I wouldn't..." he said happily.

"Then I think there's nothing that speaks against us giving this whole 'roommate' thing a chance, right?" Kitzi asked and returned the smile.


	6. Ink

**Ink**

"This'll be all kinds of awesome!" Dante cheered, giving Kitzi a wild grin.

"I guess so," Kitzi replied, putting his few of his belongings into the unused drawer. "I just hope that I manage to fit in properly."

The mouse chuckled and hopped onto the bed. "Why shouldn't you? You strike me as a nice and relatively open-minded guy. And those types rarely got trouble with fitting in."

"Maybe... it's just that I don't know what I'm supposed to do..." Kitzi turned around and leaned against the drawer, facing Dante. "I don't know what courses I'm supposed to show up at, and I don't even know what those courses will be about!"

"Relax! Nobody is expecting you to know everything about the Cubi race already." _Even though a few basics would help, I assume,_ he silently added. "Your schedules and such will be determined soon enough. But first, there are a few mandatory things you will have to do, anyway."

"Like what?"

"Like... your placement test." Dante shuddered. "That one will... not be so terribly awesome, to be honest."

Kitzi frowned. "How so? Is it a difficult test? Will I have to do something special?"

"No, it's not... difficult," the mouse Incubus slowly said, trying to think of a good way to prepare Kitzi for it. "You'll just have to... be yourself and hang on."

"Well, that sounds ominous."

"Sorry, it's hard to put into words, but you'll find it out soon enough," Dante replied, trying not to think of the horrors of his own test.

"Fine... anything else, other than the placement test?"

"A new wardrobe would be a good idea," Dante said, giving Kitzi's plain robe a critical look.

"You mean like a school uniform?"

Dante snickered. "Not quite. Everybody gets a personal outfit, but we get the resources to go nuts when it comes to style and material. So you could get something made from a light and smooth material. Maybe with a more... modern cut." _And maybe something a bit more colorful._

"I'm afraid I'm not really knowledgeable in terms of 'modern clothing styles'," Kitzi admitted and shrugged helplessly.

"Don't worry, we'll find something together after the placement test," Dante told him, trying not to sound overly nervous about the test. "Come on, might as well get it over with!"

"It's going to be very bad, right?"

Dante froze. "Whatever makes you think so?" he asked nervously, trying to smile.

"Your voice... it's close to panic, I think. I'm sorry if I'm mistaken, it's just-"

"N-Nonsense!" the mouse stammered. "Let's just see the doctor. He should be in his-"

"Doctor," Kitzi repeated. "The placement test will be some sort of medical exam?"

"Nooooooot quite... but... it's... you'll see. Come on!" He took Kitzi's arm and gently dragged him out of the room. _The more he makes me talk, the less_ I _want to go._

Kitzi allowed the mouse to drag him through various corridors, crossing a large part of the floor before they finally arrived at a door labeled "Infirmary".

After taking a deep breath, Dante opened the door. "Helloooo? Anybody here? Doc?" _Please don't be here... please don't be here..._

{{{One moment...}}}

_Dammit._ Dante groaned quietly.

"What... was that sound?" Kitzi asked, his ears twitching lightly.

Dante shuddered. "Ink," he whispered.

{{{That's _Doctor_ Ink to you, Dante,}}} the voice replied and chuckled. Saying that the voice was creepy or disturbing would have been an euphemism. This voice was the embodiment of evil, the most unsettling way of relaying speech. And it had a refined, slightly English accent.

"I think I understand your reluctance now..." Kitzi whispered.

"Oh no... you don't understand anything yet..." Dante replied quietly.

A few seconds later, Doctor Ink came out of the next room. The grey-furred fox smoothed his doctor's coat with one hand while adjusting his glasses with the other one. {{{What can I do for you?}}} he asked Dante and smiled. {{{Decided to pick up my offer to volunteer for my... research? And look, you even brought a friend!}}} His golden headwings flapped in excitement.

"Uh, no... not for your research!" Dante stammered quickly and shook his head for added emphasis. "We just came for a placement test!"

Doctor Ink blinked, his smile fading. {{{Placement test? There aren't any tests scheduled for this month... we're not expecting a new batch of students for a while...}}} One of his black flight-feathers morphed into a fox-headed tentacle, which reached into a drawer and pulled out a folder. He opened it and took a look inside. {{{No... nothing on my schedule...}}} He patted his coat, as if looking for something. Then he reached into a pocket and casually took out a cup of tea. {{{Ah well, no time like the present, eh? Follow me, young lad. You can tell me your story while we run the tests.}}} He gave Dante a neutral look and drank from the cup. {{{You can wait here for your...}}}

"Roommate," Dante replied quickly, not wanting to risk being volunteered for research work because of slow answers.

{{{Roommate... how interesting...}}} Ink said more to himself than to Dante. Then he shrugged and gave Kitzi a light pat on the back to guide him into the other room. After closing the door behind them, he led the younger Cubi to a chair and let him sit down. {{{Let's start with the easy things...}}} A wing tentacle fetched him a pencil and a blank file. {{{Name and Clan?}}}

"My name is Kitzi Callempia. Clan... do I have to have one?"

Ink blinked. {{{A last name, but no Clan name? Were you raised by Beings?}}}

Kitzi nodded. "Grew up in a village called Nonav. Lived there all my life."

{{{No other Cubi around?}}}

"None. Well... except for Fa'Lina's visit yesterday. And I think she mentioned that a Succubus is living in the neighbor village, but I never met her..."

Ink frowned and made a few notes, including one to ask Fa'Lina why she hadn't bothered to inform him. {{{Blind since birth? Or due to an accident?}}}

"You noticed?" Kitzi asked, unable to hide his surprise.

{{{You are blending in nicely, I admit that much,}}} Ink informed him. {{{You followed my voice and my gentle nudges without much hesitation. But you're the first visitor who didn't even take a look around after coming in.}}}

"Good point," Kitzi admitted and smiled. "I've been blind... either since birth, or since a very early accident I can't remember."

{{{Hrm.}}} Doctor Ink tapped his muzzle with the pen, giving Kitzi an odd look.

"Is something wrong?" Kitzi asked, knowing full well that such sounds were no good sign when they came from a doctor.

{{{It's certainly unusual for a Cubi to be blind. I assume the other Cubi you met have reacted with surprise and shock?}}}

"Well, yeah. But I'm kinda used to that by now. Only blind kid in the village, too." Kitzi shrugged.

The doctor chuckled. {{{Yes, I see. However, your case is somewhat special.}}}

"How so? Is it somehow bad if a Cubi is blind? Does that mean I can't control my-"

{{{Most blind Cubi are healed before they have to live with the blindness,}}} Ink interrupted him.

"...what?" Kitzi blinked and frowned. "Wait, so you can heal... blindness?" he asked slowly, as if making sure he had heard the doctor correctly. "You mean that you could make me _see_?"

Ink let out a sigh. {{{I could most likely heal your eyes. That's not the same as making you see. Like I said, your case is special. The Cubi living in Clans usually spend only a few hours or days being blind before their eyes are healed. You have possibly been blind since birth and lived like that for the last... how old are you?}}}

"Twenty," Kitzi murmured, sensing that his chances of seeing were getting slim.

{{{Well, I have a thesis about why healing your eyes will not make you see, but I'll spare you the medical terms and just show you the reason with the help of a few tests. May I take a look at your mind?}}}

"Sure," Kitzi mumbled," I just think that Fa'Lina put up some sort of shield..."

{{{Don't worry... I can sense it... yes, that's Fa'Lina's work. Blunt and strong. I assume you have no experience with shielding?}}} When Kitzi nodded, Ink continued, {{{Very well, we'll work together then. I could bring the shield down myself, but that would be uncomfortable to say the least.}}} _Tempting, come to think of it,_ he thought and smiled. _But no... this is one of the rare occasions where business and pleasure shouldn't mix._ {{{Try to imagine a wall in your mind. That wall protects you. Now... slowly remove a few bricks from the wall... it should come easy... yes, that's it...}}} He carefully removed the parts of the shield Kitzi had missed and smiled. {{{Well done.}}}

"You're not going to go nuts in my brain now, are you?" Kitzi asked half-jokingly. "I mean, like wiping out my memories and stuff like that?"

{{{Ah, so you already had a chat with your little friend?}}} Ink asked and chuckled while he selected a few parts of Kitzi's mind to monitor.

"Yeah, but he promised not to do anything like that..."

{{{Mhh. He's a good kid. Much potential for evil and nastiness, but he chose a different path. Pity, too. I would've loved to teach him a thing or two.}}}

"That... does not sound reassuring at all."

{{{It's not meant to be... We can continue this later, though. For now... just relax. I will give you a few words and your task is simply to think of things you associate with the words. Simple association.}}}

"Mh... okay..." Kitzi whispered.

{{{Fa'Lina.}}}

"_Poodle. Succubus. Tall. SAIA._" Ink heard in his mind. He could briefly smell her fur and feel the confusion Kitzi must have felt. As expected, there were no visual associations.

{{{Well done. Now... Doctor Ink.}}}

"_Creepy creepy oh so damn CREEPY. Really a doctor? Creepy very creepy. Voice got a soft ring to it despite the creepiness, though. WAIT can he hear me think all this? What can he-_"

Ink chuckled. {{{Sorry, just couldn't resist. However, now I can be certain that I'm getting a good reading of your genuine thoughts. And it's good to know I haven't lost my touch since starting to work here, though.}}} He smiled sheepishly. {{{Back to business. Mother.}}}

This time, the flow of information was almost completely based on feelings. There were a few touch-related memories, along with a few smells, but hardly anything was described in words.

{{{I see...}}} Ink said quietly. {{{Blue.}}}

_"... ... ...color of the sky... I think?"_

{{{Light.}}}

_"... ... ...warm?"_

_Nothing,_ Ink realized. _No visual association at all. He doesn't even comprehend the concept of colors or brightness aside from what people told him about it._ He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. _His brain most likely isn't up to the task of working with visual data._ He started to pace. _Even if I healed his eyes, what would his brain do with the new information? Is there maybe some part left that deals with such things? And how would one test-..._ {{{You don't happen to be able to read minds, do you?}}} he suddenly asked.

"I think I do... sort of... Fa'Lina said I accidentally read the minds of my parents. It's also the reason why she gave me the shield... but now, even with the shield gone, I don't seem to be able to do it anymore..."

{{{No, that's just because everybody else in the area is shielded, so there's nothing your idle mindreading would be able to pick up,}}} Ink replied and sat down next to the younger Incubus. {{{Now... I'll lower my own shielding just enough to let a few thoughts slip out. Your task is to tell me what you experience. Do you understand that?}}}

"Yeah... doesn't sound too hard..."

{{{Excellent.}}} Ink closed his eyes and imagined an apple as clearly as possible. Then he carefully shared only the sensory experiences of smell, taste and touch with Kitzi.

"It's... an apple, isn't it?" Kitzi asked, smiling lightly. "I can... I can taste it... and it's almost like I can feel it..."

{{{Correct,}}} Ink said and went on to elaborate, {{{When somebody idly thinks of an apple, you will only 'hear' the word in your mind. I focused on the sensory experiences, so you are experiencing them, too.}}} He shook his head. {{{But I digress. Let's continue.}}} Taking a deep breath, he added the visual component into the stream he was sharing with Kitzi.

Kitzi's ear started to twitch. "I... think I'm doing something wrong..."

{{{What makes you think so?}}} the doctor asked even while he was reading Kitzi's mind. Frowning, he flipped open a notepad and started to write.

"I... don't know. The apple's still there, but... I'm hearing noise... it's like a loud buzzing... and the smell and taste slightly changed... it's..."

{{{-still an apple, just with something else mixed in.}}} Ink completed the sentence and nodded slowly. After removing the visual stream again, he asked, {{{Better now?}}}

"Yeah... now it's back to normal." Kitzi replied and nodded.

Sighing quietly, Ink put up his shields to full strength again. {{{Yes... just as I expected. Healing your eyes would be possible, but it would not solve your problem.}}}

"Why not?" Kitzi asked, obviously trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

{{{You grew up with only four senses, and your brain developed accordingly. The interferences you experienced is what your brain tried to make out of visual images. It simply doesn't know what to do with it.}}} _Of course, the brain_ is _able to adapt to new concepts,_ Ink reminded himself. _So it might be possible that it "learns to see" after a while..._ He opened his mouth to tell Kitzi about that, but quickly reconsidered it. _No. Best to do some research first. Something like this would require some major remapping. So it could take decades before he starts making out even the most basic things, and that's the best case. In the worst case, we'd end up with a Cubi that has four permanently crippled senses. No... maybe we should wait and see what he makes out of it. He certainly doesn't strike me as helpless, and who knows what will happen once he gets his powers under full control._ He smirked. _Might be a nice research subject, come to think of it..._

"I... understand..." Kitzi whispered, and Ink had no trouble sensing his disappointment and sadness. "It's odd, though," he mused. "For the first time in my life, I miss something I never had."

The doctor smiled softly. {{{Here's a tip: Don't.}}}

"Please don't tell me that seeing is overrated, doctor... I know it's not."

A grim chuckle. {{{True, it's not overrated. But I think your four senses are compensating for the lack of the fifth.}}}

Kitzi cocked his head. "It's not much..."

{{{I think it's a lot. Why don't you tell me a bit about this room?}}}

"What's the point? You know your room, anyway."

{{{The point is to get your mind away from sulking and to make you realize that your remaining senses are making up for it.}}}

The younger Cubi sighed. "Fine, whatever." He took a deep breath. "We're in a windowless room. Or at least in a room with no large windows. Average ceiling height. Area is about... five large steps in either direction."

Ink took a quick look around and smiled. _Not a bad guess._

"The closest corner is on the left side and behind me," Kitzi continued. "The floor is covered with smooth tiles. Since the other room had a carpet, I assume that this room is where you also do medical things that require a mostly clean environment." He gave the doctor a smirk. "Your desk is... about two steps in that direction," he said and pointed straight at the doctor's desk. "And you really should take out the trash daily to keep the room clean."

Doctor Ink blinked. {{{How-}}}

"You drink green tea. And I think I smell numerous old tea bags. It's also how I located your desk since it's most likely the spot where you keep both the trash can and your tea." He smiled sheepishly.

_Not bad... really not bad..._ The doctor nodded and smiled. {{{Quite observant! What about other things in the room?}}} Unlike the previous question, this one was designed to keep Kitzi occupied while Ink prepared the placement test. _A real pity that the he can't see the giant syringe. It's a reliable and easy way to test a Cubi's reaction to shock and surprise. Ah well... I can improvise..._ He smiled innocently while his left wing silently morphed into a large bronze disc. It was easily as tall as himself, but the wing held it effortlessly, letting it hang next to Kitzi's head.

"Well, I can smell some sort of chemical nearby, so I guess that-" Kitzi hesitated. "Odd... there is some added echo in here all of a sudden... are you silently re-arranging your furniture just to stop my winning streak? That would make you a sore loser, you know?" He gave Ink an unsuspecting grin.

Chuckling quietly, Ink let one wing tentacle shapeshift into a giant beater. {{{I'm many things, dear Kitzi. But I'm not a sore loser.}}} And with that, he swung the beater against the gong. The sound of the gong threw Kitzi off his chair. Ink calmly watched the young fox hitting the floor and made a few notes on a clipboard. _Yes, quite interesting... Combined with some of the readings I did while discussing the blindness issue, I think tha-...eh?_ He blinked. Two cobra-headed tentacles were gnawing angrily on the gong. _Cobra heads. How peculiar._ He shook the heads off and let his wing return to its natural shape.

"DOCTOR INK?" Kitzi shouted, his ears most likely still ringing from the sound of the gong. "WHAT HAPPENED? ...AND WHY AM I TASTING SOMETHING METALLIC?"

Chuckling quietly, Ink kneeled next to Kitzi and touched his patient's forehead. It took just a bit of magic to take care of the test's aftereffects. {{{Relax. That was just a test.}}}

"Test? What do you test by almost making me deaf?" Kitzi slowly got back to his feet and shook his head.

{{{Your emotions,}}} Ink explained. {{{I assume Fa'Lina told you a thing or two about Cubi being able to read emotions?}}}

"She mentioned that I could... eat them?"

{{{Yes, that's the main aspect. And just like you have a preferred food, each Cubi has a preferred set of emotions. Some prefer happiness, some prefer pain and suffering... the list is long.}}}

"May I ask what your favorite emotional food is, then?"

Ink allowed himself a grin. {{{Shock.}}}

Kitzi coughed nervously. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."

{{{Funny that you mention it, actually,}}} Ink said and held up his clipboard to check his notes. {{{Surprise is one of the things your body reacts the best to.}}}

"So I need to be surprised constantly to get 'good food'?" the green-haired fox asked. "That doesn't sound too great..."

{{{No. First of all, it works both ways. So you can feed off your own surprise and the surprise of others. The second and more important thing is that you get a similar effect from serenity, meaning that keeping a cool head under stress gives you a sort of bonus. Under that light, the worst thing for you would be all-out panic.}}}

"Oh, great," Kitzi remarked sarcastically. "Giving me all the easy ones, aren't you?"

{{{Don't worry. I think you will soon learn how to keep your mind free from stress and panic. You're actually in a fortunate situation. I doubt you would enjoy having an affinity for pain and suffering.}}}

The words made Kitzi hesitate. "Well, okay. Point..." He rubbed his temples. "It's just so much at once... how am I supposed to keep up with so many life-changing things at once?"

Putting a hand on Kitzi's shoulder, Ink quietly said, {{{You're not. Nobody expects that you to simply accept all of this. You're an unprepared Incubus who doesn't even know his Clan's name. We fully expect you to take at least a few days or weeks before you even begin to feel ready to join any courses.}}} He briefly considered to go into the details of the SAIA course structure, but decided against it. {{{For the first few days, stay close to Dante. He will be your guide and tutor. Let him teach you about the basic abilities and the school. Once you are feeling confident enough, ask him about the courses. If there is an unexpected problem, he will tell the professor most suited to deal with it.}}}

The words seemed to calm Kitzi down a bit. "Okay... that sounds like a plan..." he whispered and nodded.

{{{Excellent. I think we are done here, too. So you can join your friend outside.}}} The doctor cocked his head and quickly went through a mental checklist while Kitzi got up. {{{Oh! And tell him to put a shield on you!}}}

"Right, right," Kitzi muttered, stumbling out of the examination room. "And then I'll maybe have a nice nervous breakdown..."


	7. Dates and Dimensional Folding

**Dates and Dimensional Folding**

Dante smiled widely when Kitzi came out of the exam room. _And even in one piece!_ "Hey, you made it!"

Kitzi smiled weakly. "Yeah, guess so."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine after a while! Just a matter of time, and time's on our side, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Sure."

Dante frowned lightly. There was something wrong, but the infirmary was hardly the place to chat. He touched Kitzi's elbow to guide the fox towards the exit. "C'mon, we'll just head back to our room and-"

_"Oh, look, Kitzi. Giving you the cripple routine again. Is he going to drag you all through the place by your arm? Doesn't that idiot know you get along fine once you know the way? I'M NOT HELPLESS, DAMMIT. STOP TREATING ME TH-"_

"WHOA!" Dante yelped, letting go of Kitzi's elbow. "S-Sorry, man! Didn't mean to imply anything!"

"No, it's okay," Kitzi quickly replied. "It's just that-" He cocked his head. "Wait, I didn't say anything..."

The mouse looked down at his hand, then back up at Kitzi. "Are you still shielded...?"

"Shielded? No, actually I'm not sh-..." His mouth opened and closed a few times as the realization hit him. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he finally snapped and stumbled backwards.

"Kitzi, wait! I'm not! Calm down!" Dante quickly shouted, hoping to avoid another encounter with Kitzi's angry tentacles. When the fox was only staring in his general direction, he sighed. "Listen to me... I promised you I wouldn't mess with your mind, and I will NOT break that promise! Okay? It's just that without a shield, _anybody_ can pick up your stray thoughts."

The fox slowly nodded, apparently remembering the lesson about emotional control. "Right... right... I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I just... I mean... Could you help me with a shield?"

Dante smiled again. "Yes, of course I can! Just kneel for a second. This works better when I'm close to the head." Kitzi quickly dropped to his knees and bowed his head slightly, allowing Dante to place his hands on the his head.

_"Oh, so now we're dating, huh?_" Kitzi thought, making the mouse snicker.

"Well, we can continue the foreplay in our room later, if you insist," Dante jokingly offered to lighten the mood. "But right now, hold still so I can take a closer look at your present state." He closed his eyes and focused on Kitzi's mind. "Ahu... you have been introduced to the wall analogy, I assume?"

"Yeah, Ink mentioned it, why?" Kitzi asked.

"Mh... looks like you subconsciously tried to create your own wall in your mind..." Dante inspected Kitzi's self-made shield and smiled lightly. "It's not bad for a first try, actually. At least for a shield against idle probing. You just didn't factor in that mindreading is a lot easier in cases of physical proximity."

"...ah. And now in English, please?"

"I can still read most of your idle thoughts when I touch you," Dante translated. "Okay, and you're not prepared against mental attacks, but that's advanced stuff, anyway."

Kitzi frowned. _"Mental attacks? So I have to expect people breaking into my mind unless-"_

"Don't worry," the mouse addressed Kitzi's unspoken fears, "such attacks are very rare outside the mindreading courses. You have to keep in mind that you possess the potential to retaliate. So most Cubi follow a few mostly unwritten rules to avoid conflicts. That means, among other things, that a regular shield should be enough to protect your thoughts."

"Wait... everybody here follows these rules?" The fox cocked his head. "Then why did you have such trouble finding a roommate?"

"You're catching on quickly!" Dante said and smiled drily. "The main reason is that Cubi rarely switch rooms once they arrive here at SAIA. You can always request a room-change, but few do so. That means that basically all Cubi who are assigned to a room are also new at SAIA."

"So they don't know these rules?"

"Exactly. They only know what their Clans teach them, and that is basically to stay away from my Clan. Sure, they later learn that I'm effectively not allowed to mindwipe random students, even if I felt like it, but by then they're already in another room. Not that any of them ever offered to come back to my room. Or to hang out with me." Dante's grip on Kitzi's head tightened a little bit. "They trust the rules, but they still decide to avoid closer contact just to be sure."

"Is everybody like that?" There was a hint of genuine pity in Kitzi's voice.

Dante let out a long sigh and eased his grip again. "No. There are a few who still hang out with me every now and then, but I'm a loner for the most part."

_"Like me."_ Kitzi's thought made Dante smile in sympathy.

_Maybe that's why Fa'Lina sent him to my room,_ he mused. _Two loners who can understand each other..._

"Okay... so, can you put up a better shield for me before we head out and conquer the world with our loner way?" Kitzi asked with a smirk.

Dante briefly considered teaching Kitzi how to put up a better shield. _No. Not right after his placement test. He must be drained._ "You bet on it! Just relax and I'll set up a shield for you..." He quickly set up a basic shield, making sure that it covered Kitzi's mind from all angles.

"While you're in there," Kitzi whispered, "could you figure out why I got a headache?"

"Headache? Since when?"

Kitzi shrugged. "Kinda since I arrived here..."

"Might be emotional overload," Dante guessed. "Since you can feed on emotions, you can also 'eat too much', so to speak. I'll just set up a filter for now. Like my shield, it'll only last a day or so, but don't worry, it's not hard to learn, so you so you should be able to put up your own shields by tomorrow."

"All this, just to be able to survive the day?" Kitzi whined.

"Don't worry," Dante chuckled, finishing the filter spell, "it's a small price to pay when you consider what you get in return."

"A headache?" the fox asked without much enthusiasm and got back to his feet.

"Very funny." The mouse smirked and gave Kitzi's robe a tug. "Come on, I'll tell you on the way to the changing room." They left the infirmary and walked down the corridor. Dante gave Kitzi's staff a curious look. "Why're you sweeping like that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Close your eyes and find out." Kitzi replied with an innocent smile.

Dante hesitated. "Okay... fine." He closed his eyes and walked next to Kitzi. "So, this is what the world is like for you? Just this... void?"

"It's actually not a void. But I guess that people normally rely heavily on their sight, so it might feel like a void to you."

"That doesn't explain the stick," Dante replied, his eyes still closed.

"I didn't say it does." The fox chuckled. "Oh, by the way, I think you will figure out its use in... five seconds."

_Five seconds? What's going to happen then? Will the revelation hit me?_ The mouse shrugged and moved on. After three steps, his face was buried in something soft. "What the-" he asked and opened his eyes. After taking a step back, he realized that he had walked straight into the backside of an elk Succubus. A rather enraged elk Succubus. _Elk, how odd,_ he mused. _Not too many of those around, especially not elks without antlers, even though that might be a gender thing. I kinda dig the brownish fur and wing feathers, though... and she's kinda cute with that blush. Come to think of it, isn't she in my 'Advanced Elemental Studies' course? Might be worth findi-_

The elk raised a fist, causing Dante to abandon his thoughts about a possible romance. "If that was a new attempt to ask for a date, let me show you what I thought of it."

"Oh, frig," was all Dante could reply before the elk's punch sent him flying down the corridor. He barely managed to protect his face by raising his arms before hitting the floor. After skidding to a halt, Dante let out a groan. "Damn... can't believe I'm still in one piece." He looked up just in time to see the elk conjuring a disturbingly large boulder. "Oh, for the love of-" She tossed the boulder at him, causing Dante to skitter away from his current position. _Yep, she's definitely in 'Advanced Elemental Studies',_ he thought even as the boulder hit the spot he had just left.

"THAT ENOUGH OF AN ANSWER FOR YOU?" the elk shouted, waving her fist.

"DULY NOTED! I'LL TRY ROSES NEXT TIME!" Dante shouted back and gave her a thumb-up sign. Much to his relief, the elk gave him a silly grin and walked off.

"Yasma had a nice voice," Kitzi remarked when Dante finally got back to him. "Very melodious."

Dante gave him a look. "You almost got me killed, and now you're talking as if-... Wait. You know her name?"

"Yeah. She told me after... what did she do to you, anyway? Sounded like a brief fight, and then she started whispering something about some some seal of some order..."

"Seal of the First Order," Dante replied automatically "Or maybe the one of the Sixth Order. Not sure, I'd have to look it up. Depends on the composition of that FRICKEN BOULDER SHE THREW AT ME BECAUSE YOU MADE ME WALK STRAIGHT INTO HER BACKSIDE!"

Kitzi jumped slightly and chuckled nervously. "Well, she did call you cute, if that helps."

"Wait, what?" The mouse blinked. "How long did you talk with her? She should've been too busy beating me up!"

"She's a fast talker, I guess." Kitzi gave him a smile. "What did she look like, anyway?"

"Starting to flirt on your first day already?" Dante gave him a smirk. "She's an elk. A tall, strong, brutish elk."

"I think most people are tall in your eyes," Kitzi retorted. "And she said _you're_ cute, so I kinda doubt that she's interested in me."

"Eh. My next class with her is next week, so I can't even ask her about a date till then, anyway." He gave Kitzi's robe a light pull and started to move on. "Besides, I wouldn't know what to get her. Perfume, maybe?"

"You could just go to her room and ask her. Oh, and she doesn't use perfume."

Dante rolled his eyes. "Kitzi. Do you even know how many floors SAIA has? Do you have any idea how many students are living here? With only her name, the chances of find-" He noticed Kitzi's knowing smile. "...she told you her room number, did she?"

"She certainly did."

"WHEN?" Dante gestured wildly. "She spent less than a minute on beating me up, and she still told you her name, her room number, her perfume preferences and the fact that she finds me cute?"

"Well, the perfume thing is just what I noticed," Kitzi admitted and tapped his nose. "She had a nice, natural smell going for her. But the rest, yes."

Dante rubbed his temples. "At this rate, I'll stab my eyes out. It sure seems to help getting information from cute girls."

The fox snickered quietly. "It just boils down to paying attention to your environment."

"Is that how you knew I would walk into her?"

"Yes, actually," Kitzi replied. "I could smell and hear her a few seconds before you bumped into her."

The mouse gave the cane a glare. "Okay," he muttered, "and what does the stick do?"

Kitzi sighed and tapped Dante's foot with it. "It tells me when I'm about to bump into things I can't detect otherwise. So in the worst case, I would've touched her foot with it before running her over."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"You let me walk into a near-death situation simply because you didn't feel like telling me this ONE SENTENCE?" Dante snapped.

Kitzi shrugged. "I kinda expected you to get the idea before actually hitting something." He gave Dante a grin. "But hey, you got a potential date out of it."

"Right, right. But next time, please use your super-senses to get me a date before I almost get buried alive."

"Super-senses? I wish. Using my senses of smell and hearing isn't super."

Dante frowned. "Well, I kinda believe the scent thing since you're a fox and all, but... you heard her standing there from, five to ten steps away? While we were talking?"

Kitzi hesitated. "Well... yeah. Why?"

_That sounds fairly unlikely to me,_ Dante thought, giving Kitzi a critical look. _If I didn't know better, I'd say he's using some kind of magic. Well, either that, or I really didn't pay any attention._ He shook his head. "No, it's nothing, I guess..."

"If you say so..." Kitzi opened his mouth, as if to add something, but then shook his head. "So, where's the changing room?" he changed the subject.

"Oh, right! Fifth floor. We're actually close to the staircase." The mouse guided Kitzi through a door, and into the main SAIA staircase.

"...how huge is this place?" Kitzi asked, turning his head from side to side.

Dante took a quick look around. "The staircase? Pretty huge. Spiral staircase, built in a massive cylinder that's usually ten or so floors high. I think that if I climbed these stairs until I was right above you, I'd easily be standing two floors higher. Possibly more. And don't get any ideas of jumping across the gap in the middle, it's large enough to make you fall for-"

"_Usually_ ten floors?" Kitzi interrupted him, scratching his head.

"It's... complicated," Dante hinted. "I'll tell you later. For now, come on." He slowly guided Kitzi to the stairs leading upwards, letting the fox work out the size and location of the steps with his cane. After moving up one floor, they left the staircase again. "Okay, we're almost-"

"Wait," Kitzi said, touching Dante's shoulder, "didn't you say that the changing room is on the fifth floor?"

Dante let out a quiet sigh. "Yep."

"And we started out on the second floor?"

"Yep."

"And after climbing up one floor worth of stairs, we're now...?"

"...on the fifth floor," Dante muttered. "Like I said: It's complicated."

"How can this be complicated?" Kitzi snapped. "It's a staircase! It's simple!"

"Kitzi, this is the SAIA staircase!" Dante explained, waving his arms wildly. "It... takes some gettin' used to!"

"How can we just skip two floors?" Kitzi asked, giving Dante a wild, unfocused look.

"We... it's..." Dante opened and closed his mouth. "How much do you know about Multidimensional Travel and Continuous Folding?"

"You know, it's no shame to admit that we're on the wrong floor," Kitzi told him after a few seconds of hesitation. "You don't have to invent stuff just to pretend-"

"Oh, for the love of..." Dante hissed, dragging Kitzi back into the staircase and up two flights of stairs. After leaving the staircase again, he dragged the protesting fox through a few corridors and to a closed door. "Okay," he said, trying not to pant, "we're in front of a door. Tell me something about it."

Frowning lightly, the fox reached out and touched the door, letting his hands wander to the golden numbers on it. "Number 256... that's... no, it can't be..." he whispered.

"Yes, that's our room. We're on the second floor again."

Kitzi grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door open. Not bothering to use his cane, he rushed inside, sniffing the air. "I can smell... my own scent. I've been here before."

"Well, yeah. Like I said: This is our room. Go check the drawers if you still don't believe me, your stuff should be where you left it."

Much to his credit, the fox simply sat down on the bed without going through a mental breakdown. "Fine," he muttered, not bothering to hide his resignation. "What's the deal with the staircase?"

"Officially, it's a proof of concept, designed and implemented by the Multidimensional Theories class roughly 150 years ago."

"And unofficially?"

"Late-night drinking binge by said class. Nobody is really certain _how_ they did it, but everybody would be happy if it didn't happen again." Dante hopped onto the bed, landing next to Kitzi. "Oh, but it gets better!"

"_Even_ better?" the fox asked sarcastically.

"The profs aren't sure if it's dimensionally stabilized. Heck, they're not sure about anything when it comes to the staircase."

"And that means...?" Kitzi asked, even though his expression told Dante that he didn't really want to know.

"Well, if it's not stable, then the worst-case scenario is TDC - Total Dimensional Collapse. Reality will twist and warp until the entire universe collapses into the staircase, which by then will be a complete void, leading into some other dimension."

Kitzi's jaw dropped. "Wha-...?"

"To be fair: That _is_ the worst case. And it worked out for 150 years, so it should be mostly safe."

"So... all my life, there had been the chance of my entire world being sucked _into a staircase_?"

"Yeeeeep," Dante said, grinning proudly. "We got the most awesome staircase in the universe! And if TDC ever happens, it'll also be the _only_ staircase in the universe." His grin vanished when he felt a massive wave of negative emotions hitting him. He gave his new roommate a quick glance and frowned. "Hey... c'mon, it's not that bad... I was mostly kidding, actually. The chances of that happening are really slim, and-"

"You wanted to bring me to the changing room?" Kitzi abruptly changed the subject and started to get up.

_Damn, I've pushed him too far, too fast,_ Dante realized and bit his lower lip. "Look, it's not urgent," he whispered, pulling Kitzi back onto the bed. "Why don't you rest a bit? You still sleep, right? So you could-"

"I _still_ sleep?" Kitzi asked. "That's a very odd question."

_Way to go, Dante. Way to go..._ The mouse Incubus smacked his forehead. "I'm not sure that you want to hear the answer to-" he started to reply, but stopped when he noticed the look on Kitzi's face. "Fine," he muttered. "You're a Cubi. You don't need sleep anymore."

"I don't need sleep anymore," Kitzi echoed in a mocking tone. The fox suddenly jumped up and started to pace. "So being a Cubi now makes me an insomniac, and I guess you will tell me next that this is a good thing, right?" He glared in Dante's general direction. "Oh, and let me guess, it's because of my _emotions_, right? Because, like, EVERYTHING is connected to my emotions nowadays!" The fox threw up his arms and cursed.

Dante tried not to smirk at the outburst. "Well, you're not an insomniac since you can still go to sleep just fine. The thing is that you don't _need_ sleep anymore. You can easily keep going for months or years without a second of sleep." He smiled sheepishly. "And yes, emotions. Even though the not-sleeping bit would count more as a natural ability, thanks to the way your body works. But the energy we gather from emotions is usually what keeps us running."

Kitzi placed his hand on his forehead. "How many Cubi go insane on their first day?"

"Not too many, actually. But that is because we usually learn about all of that when we are young, so you're at a slight disadvantage since you only learn about stuff whenever it happens to you." He smiled softly. "Rest a bit, Kitzi. You've been through a lot in the past one or two hours." _Thanks to me dragging him all around the place without any sort of organization,_ he mentally added. _Heck, we didn't even reach the changing room! We had been almost there, and I dragged him back here just to prove that I'm right. Way to screw up, Dante._

"I don't need sleep, I need... normality!" Kitzi gestured vaguely, looking incredibly lost and helpless. "My entire world has been turned upside down in less than two days!"

"Yes, it has," Dante admitted, "and your brain needs some time to adjust to the various new things that are going on in your life." He stood up and joined Kitzi. "You need sleep. And nothing on your to-do list for this week is urgent, so you can sleep as long as you like."

The larger Cubi nodded slowly. "I guess you're right," he muttered. "But... what about your schedule? Isn't this messing with your-"

"I'll be fine," Dante interrupted him. "Trust me. You just go to bed, and once you wake up, things will be better. I promise."

"If you say so..." Kitzi said and sat on the bed.

"I do, I do. Trust me." The mouse Incubus hesitated and then grinned sheepishly. "Just... uh... tell me her room number, pretty please?"

The fox blinked twice before grinning, too. "Room 915."

"And no perfume for Yasha, but roses might help!" Dante said, proud that he remembered her apparent preferences.

Kitzi sighed. "Her name is Yasma. Not Yasha."

"Um. Right. Right." Dante chuckled nervously. "I totally meant that."

"You sure did," Kitzi replied mockingly. "Have fun on your date!"

The mouse smiled widely. "Thanks... and I wish you a good night!"

With that, he left the room. The last thing he heard before he closed the door was, "...why is there only one bed in here?"


	8. Class Credit

**Class Credit**

"Mrhhh..." Kitzi's ear flicked lightly, trying to home in on his parents' footsteps. It took him a few minutes to realize that his parents were impossibly far away right now. _Right, I'm in SAIA,_ he reminded himself and sighed. _Isn't that just peachy? I'm stuck in a place that doesn't even obey the laws of physics. And I got told that I'm only blind because my real parents didn't get me to the right doctor after my birth._ He cursed quietly. _If I had not been adopted... If I had grown up in my Clan..._

Sighing quietly, Kitzi got up. "If, if, if," he muttered. "I shouldn't think about that too much. I grew up in Nonav, and I don't regret that." _Okay, and now say it like you mean it._ The fox cursed again, louder this time. "Whatever. I'm here, I'm blind, and I'm NOT going to spend the rest of my life whining about it."

He slid out of the bed and scratched his bare torso. _Now, where did I put my clothes? And where's my cane?_ A quick pat on his legs told him that he was still wearing his regular pants. _Oh, right... I just took off the robe before going to bed,_ he remembered and nodded. "So... where's my robe?"

Seconds later, somebody handed him the missing item. "Thanks, Dante!" he said as he put on the robe. "Didn't even notice you. Sorry about the silly rant, I didn't mean to come off as-" A forked tongue slid over his cheek, causing Kitzi to freeze. _Oh no. This isn't happening. This is not what I fear it is..._ He reached out with a trembling hand. Eventually, he touched the snake head that was hovering next to him. The tentacle head nuzzled his hand affectionately. _Help._

Something touched his left side, and Kitzi was fairly certain that another tentacle had found his cane. _It's okay, Kitzi... just a few extra appendages helping you to get dressed. That's no reason to panic. This is perfectly normal... don't freak out... don't freak out... Just remember what Dante told you. They react to your mood. I just need to calm down. Breathe in... breathe out... relax..._ He sighed quietly when he felt the tentacle heads retreating.

"Okay, now what?" Kitzi asked himself after a quick trip to the bathroom. "When is Dante supposed to come back? ...and what time is it?" He massaged his forehead, trying to come up with a plan. _I could just wait for him. Or rather: I_ should _just wait for him. Right. I'm going to stay here. Here... in this boring room. For God knows how long. Waiting until Dante comes back from his-_ "-date," Kitzi finished the thought aloud. "He's dating Yasma. Right... he could be gone for hours. Or days. Who knows what Cubi do during a date?"

He gritted his teeth, trying desperately to avoid the conclusion that seemed inevitable by now. _Well, since he's going to be gone for a few hours at least..._ He bit his lower lip. _As long as I stay away from that staircase, I'll find my way around. No problem. As long as I keep track of the turns I take, I'll be able to map out a large part of this floor, and Dante will never know!_ A few careful steps, and the doorknob was within reach. _Come on... do it... unless you want to cling to Dante like a helpless child..._

"I'm not helpless," Kitzi hissed and opened the door. "I can find my way around this place." He made a quick sweep with the cane to make sure that he was not about to walk into somebody. After taking a deep breath, Kitzi followed the corridor to his right. The few other students he passed on his way didn't pay him much attention, even though he heard a few whispered questions about his cane. _But that's okay,_ he told himself. _They're just curious. And nobody poked fun at you, so all is well._

When he had explored the corridors around his room, Kitzi leaned against a wall to take a break. _This place shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Mostly straight corridors, connected at right angles. All I need now is to figure out what important rooms are on this floor. Other than the infirmary, of cou-_ His train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of two students. Their idle chatter didn't disturb Kitzi, but they were approaching him from a direction that should have been impossible. _There is no corridor there... or at least there shouldn't be one,_ Kitzi thought, letting the students walk past him.

When the students were gone, Kitzi carefully examined the area from where he had heard them coming. "Odd," he whispered, letting his hands run over the wall. "Can Cubi walk through solid objects?" Just as he was about to let go of the wall, his hands brushed a wooden frame. _A door?_ He let his hands wander over the area inside the frame. _No, it's not wood. Feels more like glass... just... not quite._ He frowned. "If anything, they came from here," he told himself. "So... is this maybe some sort of hidden door?" The fox pushed lightly against the surface. "How is this supposed to wo-" His hand slid through the glassy surface.

"Well, this is new," he muttered, carefully stepping through the surface. _I think I should be more surprised or freaked out by this... glass membrane, but at least this thing didn't mess up any dimensions._ The thought made him smile. _Right. It's just the architect showing off by installing a sort of glass curtain. That's a bit eccentric, but I'll live._

Letting his cane touch the floor in front of him, Kitzi made his way through the space behind the glass membrane. Judging by the slight echo and the quiet voices in the distance, he was almost certain that he was not in a corridor anymore. _Even though large halls usually feel colder than this, so I'm getting mixed signals._ In the end, he decided not to speculate too much about it. _Might as well ask Dante later._

After a few minutes of slow walking, the cane touched another glass surface. _Here we go again,_ Kitzi thought and stepped through the membrane. Immediately, the sounds of the space behind him became more distant, as if he had just stepped into another world. _What if that's exactly what it-... No. No. Don't even think about it, Kitzi._ He suppressed a shudder. _But maybe I should just go back. Back through this weird hall and to my room. Yeah, that would be-_

{{{You look lost,}}} an unsettling voice said, making Kitzi jump.

"Doctor Ink!" he yelped and took a small step backwards. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you coming."

{{{That may be because I had been standing here the entire time,}}} Ink told him and chuckled quietly.

"...oh," Kitzi replied sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "What're you doing here then, if I may ask?"

There was a pause. {{{Considering that you already had your placement test, you should know by now that I work here,}}} Ink finally replied.

"No, I mean... right here, right now. You wouldn't stand here without a reason, surely..." _Way to go, Kitzi... interrogate the possibly creepiest guy you met so far..._

Ink hesitated again; Kitzi could almost feel the doctor giving him a weird look. {{{I... work here,}}} he finally repeated. {{{Right here, even. You're standing right in front of the infirmary.}}}

Kitzi blinked and cocked his head. "...are you sure?" he asked before realizing how idiotic the question sounded. "I mean," he hastily added, "this doesn't fit with my internal map... the infirmary should be... a few corridors and corners that way..." He pointed in the general direction of where he had expected the infirmary to be, painfully aware that he must look like some crazy idiot.

{{{Quite the conundrum,}}} Ink admitted. {{{At least for somebody who apparently doesn't know what he just did.}}}

"What do you mean?"

{{{That's... complicated for somebody who only got here less than 24 hours ago.}}}

The younger fox frowned, then cursed. "It's about that glass curtain, right?"

Ink chuckled quietly. {{{That was a mirror, Kitzi.}}}

_Mirror?_ Kitzi asked himself. _No, that's impossible. You-_

The doctor had either read his thoughts or had interpreted his expression correctly. {{{Oh, but Doctor Ink, you can't walk through mirrors!}}} Ink exclaimed in what Kitzi assumed was a consciously bad impersonation of him. {{{Well, Kitzi, that "knowledge" is exactly what normally stops young Cubi from wandering into extra-dimensional spaces without supervision.}}} Kitzi felt his mouth going dry, but Ink either didn't notice his look of shock and horror or chose to ignore it. {{{Although I _am_ somewhat surprised since you should "know" that you can't walk through solid objects. But I guess you somehow concluded that it should be possible... you should tell me one day, it could make the first lesson in that field easier for future generations!}}}

Kitzi shuddered. _I walked straight through some messed-up dimension. AGAIN. I could've come out anywhere. Or nowhere!_ He sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself. "My God..." he whispered and shook his head.

{{{There, there,}}} Ink said soothingly and tugged at Kitzi's upper arm. {{{Why don't you come inside and have a cup of tea? Nothing bad happened, after all. In a few decades, you will look back at this day and laugh.}}} He helped the shuddering fox to his feet and guided him into the reception room of the infirmary.

"Why are you doing this...?" Kitzi finally managed to ask after Ink had guided him to a chair and had given him a cup of tea.

{{{I like to share a nice cup of tea,}}} Ink answered calmly. {{{When you get older, you will learn to appreciate such things.}}}

"No, I mean... the mirror... thing."

{{{Oh, that.}}} The doctor considered the question. {{{I guess we do these things because we're too lazy to roam this large building the normal ways,}}} he finally replied.

Kitzi was just about to give a sarcastic reply to that when the infirmary's front door opened. "-and I told them that," a female voice said, then stopped abruptly. "Oh, sorry, Doctor Ink! We didn't know you had a patient right now!"

{{{No, it's quite okay, Merabi,}}} Ink quickly said. {{{He's not a patient. Kitzi, meet my First Aid class. I had been waiting for them when you showed up.}}}

"Ah... uh... pleased," Kitzi said and waved in the general direction of the sounds coming from the door area. "I guess I'll get going then..."

"Aw, man, I had been hoping he'd be a volunteer," a deep, male voice moaned.

"Mostly because it's your turn to volunteer today," another Incubus commented, prompting snickers.

{{{No, Rikudo. Kitzi was just-... well, actually...}}} Kitzi suddenly had the feeling that everybody in the room was watching him. {{{Kitzi, would you like to earn some early class credit?}}}

The blind Incubus opened his mouth to reply, then quickly closed it again. _Wait. Think about it. No hasty replies._ He frowned lightly. "I... I'm not really volunteer material, Doctor," he finally said. "You know, what with me not really being in the need of first aid and all that."

{{{Oh, that won't be a problem. Trust me.}}}

Kitzi could hear one of the assembled students starting to snicker. _It's never a good sign to hear a psycho say that sentence,_ he thought. "I... uh... no, thanks, really. I should probably leave. Right now."

{{{Dante would approve of it, you know?}}} Ink asked innocently just as Kitzi got up. {{{He'd congratulate you for getting credit for my classes, actually. After all, it took him years to get the points you could earn in just an hour or two. And most of that time will be spent on theory, so your volunteer action will effectively be reduced to just a few minutes.}}}

"I... I guess that maybe... I think-" Kitzi stammered helplessly, desperately trying to find a good reason not to volunteer.

{{{Wonderful! I wish more students would show this sort of spirit when it comes to volunteering!}}} Ink quickly guided Kitzi into the room the placement test had been held in. {{{Just sit down here, Kitzi. Oh, and place your lower arm on the table, palm facing downwards. Yes, just like that.}}}

_This is a terribly stupid idea,_ Kitzi thought while Ink talked with his students about spells and anatomy. _And I somehow doubt that Dante will congratulate me. In fact, he might throw a fit and keep me locked up in our room for my own protection since I proved to be too gullible to survive without his help. ...assuming that I actually survive this hour..._

Kitzi's musings came to a halt when Doctor Ink patted his back. {{{And armed with knowledge, we come to a first practical test. Merabi? Rikudo? You will handle an example case. Then, we will discuss how you handled it. You may use any and all spells and abilities, just like in a real situation requiring first aid.}}}

"Uh, Doctor Ink, do I have to do anything special now?" Kaitzi asked, once again feeling everybody's eyes on him.

{{{Just act naturally, Kitzi,}}} Ink replied cheerfully. {{{So, without further ado, your test begins...}}}

Kitzi twitched when he heard a knife being rammed into the table. The pain signals coming from his hand apparently bypassed his brain and went straight to the vocal cords, causing him to scream incoherently. Only after a few seconds did his consciousness process all the new information, leading Kitzi to a very clear summary of the situation: "YOU FRICKEN STABBED ME!"

{{{...now.}}} Ink said calmly.

_MY GOD, GET OUTTA THERE! PSYCHO'S TRYING TO KILL YOU! JUST RUN!_ Kitzi tried to pull his arm away, but the knife kept his hand pinned to the table. _GET IT OUT! QUICKLY!_ He frantically touched the knife, trying to figure out where the handle was.

{{{Notice the patient's reaction,}}} Ink narrated. {{{He is acting as expected, trying to increase his freedom of movement in order to run or fight back. Now, it's naturally hard to apply proper first aid to a patient who is moving. Let's see how our two candidates are going to deal with it.}}}

"Don't do that!" the Succubus called Merabi snapped, apparently having noticed that Kitzi was tugging at the knife.

"Why's he using his tentacles?!" Rikudo shouted, tugging at Kitzi's wings.

Ink chuckled quietly. {{{Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that Kitzi hasn't quite mastered his Cubi abilities yet. So he can't be expected to have full control over his tentacles in an extreme situation like this.}}}

In the middle of the chaos caused by him and the two students, Kitzi managed to get a proper grip of the knife and finally pulled it out. It took him half a second to realize that that decision didn't exactly lessen the pain. Quite on the contrary, the now completely open wound hurt even more than before, and Kitzi guessed that the increased blood flow played a role in it.

Ignoring his panicked yelps, Merabi grabbed the hand that was holding the knife. "Rikudo! Keep him pinned! He's losing it!"

"Give me a minute!" Rikudo shouted angrily. The Cubi had jumped onto Kitzi's back and had wrapped his arms around the wounded Cubi's neck.

"That's more than I can spare! So... STAY!" Merabi wrestled with Kitzi's hands and finally pulled down the one holding the knife in one swift motion.

Kitzi let out a strangled gasp when he felt the knife slamming into his injured hand again. "OH, FOR THE LOVE OF FU-" The rest of the sentence was cut off by a tentacle that had quickly wrapped itself around his muzzle. Similar tentacles started to wrap themselves around his torso and wings. Being doubly pinned like this only heightened Kitzi's sense of panic, leading to him struggling wildly against his bonds.

{{{In case you've just joined the activities, these two Cubi are trying to _heal_ their fellow student,}}} Ink commented and sighed dramatically.

"Tighten your grip!" Merabi ordered the Cubi that was keeping Kitzi immobilized with his wing tentacles. "I don't want him to break free while I cast the spell!"

Kitzi howled in pain when the tentacles around his chest squeezed with greater force than he would have thought was possible. The pain that came from Merabi removing the blade suddenly seemed like a minor nuisance, compared to the feeling of cracked ribs and the inability to breathe. After what seemed like hours, the tentacles around him abruptly retreated, letting him collapse onto the floor. Kitzi wheezed and coughed for a full minute before realizing that the assault had apparently ended, just like his hand had stopped hurting. "Oh gawd..." he whined quietly.

{{{Two minutes,}}} Ink said and started to pace. {{{That's not too bad, I guess. Now. Does anybody have anything to say? Good things, bad things?}}} When nobody spoke up, the doctor sighed. {{{Fine. I'll make a few general observations then.}}} He stopped his pacing next to Kitzi and gently let his hands roam over his back. Then he took a closer look at the hand. {{{The wounds have healed nicely. Almost no scarring, and the little bit here should heal naturally. Nice work with the spell, Merabi.}}}

"Thank you, Doctor Ink!" the Succubus quickly replied, sounding happy and relieved.

{{{However, you also stabbed the patient,}}} Ink added, causing a few students to snicker. {{{Next time, disarm the patient before making sudden moves.}}}

"Yes, Doctor Ink." Merabi whispered.

{{{Rikudo, you broke... three ribs, if my quick check was correct. Additionally, you almost cut off the patient's air supply. Needless to say that this is unacceptable, considering that you two were only supposed to heal a stab wound in the hand area.}}}

"He kept struggling!" Rikudo snapped. "How was I supposed to-"

{{{With spells?}}} Ink asked. Although he hadn't raised his voice, it was very clear that the doctor did not appreciate such replies to valid criticism. {{{You should know various helpful spells by now. You could have stunned or paralyzed him. Or you could have induced sleep. Or how about simply neutralizing the pain signals, _just like we discussed last week_?}}} For a few seconds, nobody made a sound. Even Kitzi had stopped groaning. Finally, Ink sighed again. {{{Very well. Now, before we go on, I'll just heal those ribs. Hold still, Kitzi...}}}

Kitzi groaned quietly when he felt an odd warmth spreading across his back. _I pray that the "going on" part doesn't include more tests,_ he thought. _I wouldn't want to get killed in a freaking First Aid lesson._

{{{There, done,}}} Ink finally said and helped Kitzi to his feet. When he was reasonably sure that Kitzi wouldn't collapse, he let go and addressed his class again. {{{Since the last test had been more... intense than I had anticipated, I will cut Kitzi's involvement a bit short. Just one demonstration on how to do it correctly, and our young volunteer will be free to go.}}}

"Can't I simply go right now, Doctor Ink?" Kitzi groaned quietly.

{{{I would like to set a positive example in terms of healing here, Kitzi. Just to let them know how to properly deal with things.}}}

_Well, he's a professional, so it should be less horrible than the test,_ Kitzi told himself. "I... guess you're right..."

{{{Wonderful!}}} Ink exclaimed. {{{Say... do you still need that robe?}}}

"...why?" Kitzi asked, suddenly feeling very concerned again.

{{{It would make the scenario much more believable, and it's quite educational to show how to heal wounds that are partially hidden by clothes.}}}

_He's got to be kidding me. I've had this robe for years. My mother made it for me!_ He opened his mouth to say just that, but something held him back. _Or... I could just behave like an adult and acknowledge that even nice people like Dante told me to get something new._ "Fine... if it makes you happy, Doctor Ink," he sighed. _Anything to get it over with._

Ink sighed happily. {{{Oh, how I wish that more Cubi were this cooperative!}}} A few of the assembled students coughed nervously. {{{Just move a little bit away from the table... yes, just like that. Now. Everybody got a good view? Questions can wait until after the demonstration. The wound technically won't be lethal, but it's in everybody's best interest if Kitzi doesn't have to suffer very long, understood?}}}

"Wait... why _technically_ not lethal?" Kitzi asked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, determined not to take them down until he got a reply.

{{{It means that your body will react to my precision cut as if it were lethal, but you'd easily survive for one or two hours before actually dying, so there is plenty time to heal you,}}} Ink explained. {{{So, if we're all done chatting, I suggest we start- _now what?_}}} The doctor was silent for a few seconds. {{{Fa'Lina, you're interrupting my lecture, so you could at least be polite enough not to give me a cryptic order.}}}

_Must be telepathy,_ Kitzi guessed and frowned. _I wonder what they're talking about; Doctor Ink seems to be annoyed._

{{{Oh,}}} the doctor suddenly muttered. {{{That... changes things. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll cancel the- ...what? Are you serious?}}} He started tapping his foot. {{{I see,}}} he finally whispered and sighed.

"Something wrong?" the Succubus called Merabi asked timidly.

{{{Let us continue with the lesson,}}} Doctor Ink said, completely ignoring the question.

_He sounds... anxious,_ Kitzi silently observed and let his arms hang by his side, sensing that this was a very bad time to show resistance. "I'm ready when y-GHHHHHHHHHH!" Something had abruptly sliced across Kitzi's chest. The young fox clutched his chest and felt something warm on his hands. _Blood?_ He shook his head in disbelief. Ink's voice suddenly sounded very distant, as if the doctor was standing at the other end of a long tunnel. Kitzi tried to say something, to call for help, but he couldn't hear any words coming out of his mouth. _I'm dying._ The realization robbed him of his last strength and made him sink to his knees. _That psycho... he lied to me... lied... God, I really should... should..._

_Oh, don't worry,_ an inner voice suddenly whispered. _You will._

And with that, Kitzi lost consciousness.


	9. The Date

**The Date**

"If I had known a few years ago that roses are _this_ expensive, I would've learned how to conjure them," Dante muttered, giving the flowers in his hand a look. "Ah well. I said I'd try roses, and she seemed to like the idea." Standing in front of Yasma's room, he gave his outfit a last inspection. His robe had been quite dirty after his encounter with the elk, and he had spent a few hours washing his clothes and himself to make a good impression during his first date. "Well, here goes nothing..." He cleared his throat and knocked.

"Jeez, are you too drunk to just touch the fricken doorknob now?" an angry voice came from the other side of the door. "I should just break your kneecaps so you spend a few days without sex and alcohol. You know, it's really no wonder that you're that close to failing your exams in-" Yasma complained as she yanked open the door. "-...oh, it's you," she said softly and blinked.

"Uh... don't hurt me, please?" Dante asked and held up the roses like a shield.

The elk blinked and then started snickering. "Oh, sheesh, I'm sorry! I thought you were my roommate. Didn't expect you here so soon!" She quickly waved him into her room, which looked almost like a perfect copy of his own room, only messier. "You okay, by the way? I hadn't expected you to fly that far when I poked you..."

"Poked? You punched me!" Dante gave her the roses and smirked. "If that was poking to you, I don't want to be around when you start fighting for real."

Yasma gave him a grin. "I've been told it's quite a sight." She put the flowers into a vase and took a quick look around, apparently looking for a nice spot. Dante did the same, noticing that the table was buried under more than a dozen books. A quick glance at the drawers made him blink.

"Your roommate collects plushies?" the mouse Incubus asked and raised an eyebrow as he pointed at the heaps of plush toys on each drawer.

"Those are mine, actually," Yasma replied and gave him a silly grin. "Same goes for the books, which is pretty much the only reasons why I'm not going to throw them onto the floor."

"Your roommate's a pest, huh?" Dante noticed that even the chairs in the room were covered with books, so he sat down on the bed.

Yasma rolled her eyes. "Totally." She carefully placed the vase on a pile of books. "Real party girl. Doesn't know when to stop, though."

"Is she in our class?"

The Succubus blinked. "Our class? We got a class together?"

Dante's jaw dropped. "Advanced Elemental Studies? You're sitting... in the third row, right side!"

"You're in that course? Since when?" Her face showed genuine surprise.

"Since it started? I'm, like, one row behind you, over at the left side?" Dante gave her a look. "Are you that focused on the lessons that you don't even notice who's in class with you?"

"I'm not!" Yasma protested. "I just... never noticed you. Heck, I think I don't even know your name!" She cocked her head. "You're a quiet one aren't you?"

"My name's Dante," he informed her, "and I don't exactly have many friends to chat with." When the elk gave him a blank look, the Incubus rolled up the left sleeve of his robe, exposing a dark blue, vaguely triangular symbol on his upper arm. Yasma didn't react visibly to the Clan mark, but Dante could feel her raising a full set of mind shields and countermeasures. "Don't bother," he said and sighed.

"And why shouldn't I?" she asked, giving him a glare.

"Two reasons. First of all, I'm not like most of my Clan. I don't wipe people for shits and giggles. I beg you to trust me."

"And the second reason?" Yasma asked, obviously not being impressed by the first one.

"The second reason is that even those shields can't keep me out. If I really wanted to, I could still erase your memories of the last century before you even realize that I'm inside your head."

The elk hesitated, trying to decide what to do now. "You're lying," she finally hissed, still keeping up her shields.

Dante sighed. "Would you like a demonstration? No memory erasing, of course. Just a test to see if I can get in."

"You can try, rodent. You can try." Yasma gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Very well," Dante whispered. He let his mind reach out, carefully probing her shields. "Oh, nice," he commented, "you're able to set up interlocked shields. I assume you got the willpower to resist a pretty hard frontal assault."

The elk smirked. "Giving up already?"

"Hardly." _Especially since that's not my style,_ he added silently. _While most Cubi try to overwhelm shields with brute force, I simply get in because few Cubi manage to shield every angle of their mind against an attack. The trick is to find a blind spot._ He smiled when his mind felt an unshielded part of her consciousness. _Like that one..._ Before Yasma even noticed what was going on, he was inside her head, browsing through her memories. _Now... how to prove my point without violating her trust... oh, my..._ The smile widened. "Zerthoz."

"Wha-?" Yasma asked, her eyes widening slightly.

Dante quickly withdrew from her mind before she managed to detect his subtle probe. "The guy you had a crush on. Snake Incubus, and... quite the sex god, from what you had been told. Pity that he didn't like girlfriends with fur..."

"You... you... stop..." she whispered, but Dante noticed a hint of a grin on her face.

"And you actually shaved off your fur for him... just to make him happy..."

Yasma started snickering. "And, boy, did I look stupid. I didn't even have my headwings back then. Not even to mention shapeshifting." She shook her head and gave him a grin before turning more serious again. "How did you get past my shields?"

"It's a natural talent," Dante told her and shrugged. "I might be able to teach you, but it would take some time since it's not the regular approach to breaking into another mind. Your established knowledge might even get in the way, who knows? If you compare it to breaking into a house, you learn in class how to kick down the door. I, on the other hand, go through a window, the chimney, or something like that. It's kinda subtle."

"So... are you telling me that my shields are effectively useless?" The elk frowned heavily. "They sure didn't tell us that in the Mental Shielding class."

"Trust me, your shields are useful and strong. They will protect you against most Cubi, excluding maybe the professors and Cubi of equally high rank. Like I said, you've got some pretty tough shielding against conventional attacks." He smiled encouragingly. "It's just that I'm able to attack in a more... refined way that few, to my knowledge, even know of."

Yasma sighed deeply. "So I can either trust you or avoid you."

"Guess what way most students choose." Dante looked at the floor, his bat-like headwings folded closely against his head.

The Succubus started to pace. "And why does the new kid trust you? Or didn't you tell him of your Clan's history?"

Dante looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Told him about it when we met, don't worry. But how do you know you that he is new or that trusts me?"

"Well, I didn't detect any negative emotions, and he didn't beg me to finish you off, so I figure he doesn't consider you his enemy." She shrugged. "And I assumed that he's new because of his clothes. I mean, not even a blind guy would dress like that!"

Dante smacked his forehead and snickered. "Actually, he _is_ blind."

Yasma hesitated and gave Dante a shocked look. "You're kidding."

"I'm not. He's completely blind."

"Damn..." The elk frowned. "Okay, I guess that kinda answers my other theory."

"What other theory?" Dante asked and cocked his head.

"I assumed that he's gay," Yasma replied with a sheepish grin. "You know... since he didn't even give me a second glance, not even to mention checking me out."

The Incubus grinned. "He didn't even know that you're an elk - I had to tell him that afterwards. But since he's my roommate, I'll most likely be the first to notice if he's actually gay."

For a few minutes, both Cubi just snickered as they reflected on that first encounter. But in the end, Yasma crossed her arms and gave Dante a serious look again. "So, why does he trust you?"

Dante looked down again. "To be honest, I have no idea. I told him about my Clan's history and promised that I wouldn't abuse my powers. He just... trusted me then." He sighed deeply. "On the other hand, I don't know how long he'll be willing to hang out with me."

"Why should he leave you?" Yasma asked and sat down next to Dante.

"Because I'm an idiot who gets horribly sidetracked all the time?" Dante asked back. "I dragged him from the placement test to the changing room, but when we were almost there, I dragged him back to our room just to make a point about the staircase. And in our room, I told him about how the staircase became so crazy."

"Staircase and Ink's test in one day? How long has he been here? A week?"

"His first day in SAIA, his second day of knowing that he's a Cubi." Noticing her curious look, he continued, "He grew up in a village full of Beings."

"So you dropped dimensional theory and the placement test onto the pile of weird stuff he already goes through?"

The mouse nodded grimly. "Told you I'm an idiot."

She frowned lightly. "And where is he now? Please tell me you didn't just abandon him somewhere in SAIA."

"No!" Dante quickly exclaimed. "He's asleep now. Had been close to the breaking point, so I let him rest a bit." He let his head hang again. "So he can think things over, and once he's rested, he'll tell me to go to Hell because I'm not good for anything aside from-" Dante's pity-party was interrupted when the elk pushed him off the bed and straight onto the floor in one fluid motion. Before he could even think of getting back up, he felt her vise-like grip on his neck.

"Okay, here's the deal," Yasma stated. "Where I come from, we don't support self-pity. So if you just needed someone to go all 'Poor Dante! Your roommate will hate you because you suck! Oh, woe is you!', you've come to the wrong Cubi."

Dante squirmed, but her hand easily kept him pinned on the floor. "You solve all your problems with violence?" he asked when he realized that he'd have to talk his way out of this one.

"Only the ones where I think that talking alone won't solve things," the elk replied. "Now, are you going to stop pitying yourself?"

"Look, it's a fact that I messed up," the mouse muttered. "And Kitzi is going to request another room, hopefully finding somebody who is better suited to guide him. Or maybe I should just drop dead so he can find his own way. Might be better than-"

"Oh, you're IMPOSSIBLE!" the elk snapped and let go of him. After getting back to her feet, she took a few steps away from. "FINE! Here, I'll grant you your wish!" Her hands moved quickly, leaving sparks of magic hanging in the air. "Releasing the Seal of the Sixth Order," Yasma whispered and held her hands above her head. "Burial, First Degree." The sparks quickly moved upwards, circling around her hands. Moments later, a massive boulder appeared above her, dropping into her outstretched hands.

_Damn damn damn damn she's serious! Rock Elemental magic!_ Dante frantically looked around, searching for cover or an exit. _Crap, who am I kidding, nothing in this room will protect me against this pebble on steroids! And the door is too far away. No chance._ "FINE!" he screamed, raising his arms. "Stop! I'll be reasonable! No more silly pity parties!"

The elk was panting slightly under the weight of her summoned boulder. "Isn't it interesting how I always have to summon boulders just to make you listen?" she asked and let the boulder disappear again.

"Yeah, that's because you're a crazy elk!" Dante told her, forcing himself to grin. _Two near-death situations in one day. Kitzi is bad influence._

"Admit it, you're just jealous," she replied and smirked.

The mouse carefully got up again. "Of what? Summoning boulders?"

"Of course! Heck, you should see the Second Degree of that spell! There's no way you're not jealous. Unless of course you got one of the more exotic elements." She put a hand on her hip and rubbed her chin with the other one. "Wouldn't put it past you, actually... many self-appointed outcasts choose elements like Fluffy Animals or Cut Toenails in order to stand out..."

Dante smirked. "I'm about as mainstream as you can get, don't worry. Water magic is my primary element."

"Water? Odd choice." Yasma cocked her head. "I heard that you have to do daily meditation to achieve unity or something..."

"Not exactly," Dante told her and shrugged. "Being calm and focused does help since Water magic can be kinda hard to control at first, but it's not a requirement. On the other hand, I'll be the first to admit that it really is an odd choice, and if it had been up to me, I would've picked Wind maybe."

"You make that sound as if you didn't have a choice. I thought everybody was supposed to pick the element he or she feels the closest to at the beginning of the intro-level course..."

Dante opened and closed his mouth. "So anyway," he finally went on, "what made you pick Rock?"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" Yasma held up her hand and grinned. "I sense a silly story..."

_Oh boy._ Dante rolled his eyes and silently cursed his big mouth. "It's... well... I..." He sighed. "I had a vision."

"Vision," the elk repeated, and blinked.

"Yes. A vision... by the Great God of Water. And he told me to pick his element. Aaaaaaand so I did. The end!"

"Riiight." A wave of her hand caused a plush deer to hover across the room. "Evil Bambi demands that you tell the real story now," she teased him, making the toy fly slowly around his head.

Dante tried to ignore the levitating plushie and sighed. "Oh, fine... bluntly put, I got stoned on Antifreeze Tea and signed up for Water magic."

The plushie fell to the ground. "Y-You... what?" Yasma stammered and gave him a look of disbelief. "That stuff is on Doctor Ink's list of _Interesting but Lethal Poisons_! What part of LETHAL don't you understand? It's not something to drink for kicks!"

"I didn't drink it voluntarily!" Dante snapped, gesturing wildly. "Do you think I would drink something like that because I felt like it?"

"Then tell me what sick crackpot gave you Antifreeze Tea. And while you're at it, tell me how you actually managed to survive it."

The mouse sighed. "Let me put it this way: If you ever sign up for Ink's Emergency Treatment class, don't drink anything he offers you at the beginning of a lecture."

Yasma's jaw dropped. "Ink poisoned you?"

"He offered everybody a nice cup of tea at the beginning of the lecture. Once all cups were empty, he told us that one cup had been spiked and that we'd practice curing poison and, if push came to shove, reanimation on the 'volunteer'. When I finally came to my senses again, I had somehow managed to fill out the form for the Elemental Studies course with the request for Water magic 'because the Great Water God told me so'."

There was a long pause. Finally, the elk shook her head. "Tell me again why we let an evil psychopath handle the medicine courses and the infirmary."

Dante shrugged. "Well, he's the best when it comes to healing magic and medicine." He gave her a silly grin. "Besides, being responsible for the well-being of a bunch of crazy magic-users is bound to drive any Cubi insane. And you could argue that he's got a head start there..."

"Good point, come to think of it." Yasma chuckled and let the plush deer hover onto the bed. "I don't know, though... 'Dante, the Water Mage' sounds a bit odd, somehow."

"You really enjoy teasing me, don't you?" the mouse asked wearily.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Yasma admitted. "But your name really does sound more... I dunno... aggressive. Like... it makes me think of 'Dante, Lord of Eternal Hellfire' or something."

Dante grimaced. "I blame my parents. They always had high hopes for me and my siblings. And by 'high hopes', I mean that they hoped for me to get into things like 'terrorizing entire continents' and stuff like that." When he noticed her cocked eyebrow, he shrugged. "At least I'm one of their oldest children and got a fairly normal name. I think my youngest brother is actually called 'Destructo the Terrible'."

"How subtle," the Succubus commented and started to snicker. "Even though my parents also have a somewhat questionable taste when it comes to names."

"How so? 'Yasma' sounds like a very nice name..."

She rolled her eyes. "I did some research. Turns out that I'm named after a plant."

"So? There are many plant-related names. Like... Lily, Rose, Tul-"

"A _carnivorous_ plant," the Succubus interrupted him.

Dante froze. "You're going to kill me if I say 'How fitting!', right?"

Yasma crossed her arms and smirked. "That depends. Did you come up with a very romantic way of spending the rest of the day with me?"

"Uh..." The mouse Incubus frowned and finally chuckled nervously. "Not really, come to think of it... you see, I'm not really experienced in the dating area, and... uh..."

"Then yes, I'd kill you if you say that." The elk gave him an amused smile. "First date, huh?"

"Yeah... never found the right one in my Clan, and since few people here like to hang out with me, dating was pretty much out of the question..." His headwings twitched lightly, giving away how nervous he actually was.

Yasma smiled warmly and was just about to reply when somebody burst through the door. "Yas, ya totally gotta hear this!" a snow-white vixen with shoulder-long black hair yelled, stumbling into the room. When she tackled Yasma, Dante noticed a thin, black stripe running from her neck straight down to the tip of her tail, making her look a bit like an inverted skunk. "It's, like, totally awesome!"

"Hello, Iris," Yasma said with little enthusiasm. She gave Dante a look. "My roommate."

"Iris_ienne_!" the vixen corrected her sharply, her white, feathery wings twitching in a way that nicely showed off the black flight feathers. Dante guessed that the movement had been well-practiced.

"She thinks that Iris, her real name, is too common," Yasma explained after noticing Dante's confused look. "Anyway, what's so awesome?"

The vixen let go of Yasma and grinned. "Guess who finally snapped and went on a killing spree?"

"...killing spree?" the elk asked and raised an eyebrow. "What happened to the rule about not injuring and killing students within SAIA?"

"Oh, I bet Ink's above that rule, anyway..." Iris flashed her a wicked smile.

"...Ink snapped? Doctor Ink?" Dante froze. Ink was an expert when it came to shapeshifting. And while most Cubi would discard it as an offensive power, Dante knew that Ink could be... creative. _Not even to mention that he can morph his wings into extremely sharp blades,_ he reminded himself and shuddered. "Please tell me you're making this up..."

"Well... sorta..." the vixen admitted and scratched her head. "The profs just told people on the second floor to stay in their rooms, and then they told the others to stay away from that floor for now. But hey, the infirmary is on that floor, and the orders strongly hint at some serious psycho going wild there, so that sorta limits th-HEY, WHERE'S THE FIRE?"

Dante didn't pay her cries any attention as he ran out of the room and down the corridor. _Kitzi's still on the second floor!_ Panting slightly, he reached the main staircase. Once inside, it took a few glances at the ever-shifting exits to figure out the fastest way to the second floor. _Of course, he may still be asleep... and the door's locked. So he should be safe._ Dante shook his head. _And what if he decided to leave the room for some reason? What if Ink simply uses his shapeshifting powers to walk through the closed door? I've seen him do that..._ He ran upwards, having spotted his exit nearby.

"Where are you going?" Yasma shouted, obviously having followed Dante.

"My room's on the same floor as the infirmary! I gotta check if Kitzi's okay! Who knows what a rabid Ink might do with a guy who can't put up _any_ sort of defense?" Dante turned around and gave the elk a pleading look. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to decide if he should tell Yasma to get to safety or to cover his back.

As if having read his mind - a quick check told him that this was not the case or that she was a lot better at getting past barriers than him - Yasma crossed her arms and cocked her head. "I'm not going to let you go in there alone, Mr. Ink-managed-to-get-me-stoned-with-spiked-tea," she told him. "Ink is way out of your league, and a rabid Ink would kill you without a second thought."

"Oh, so you're that much better than I am?" Dante regretted his words as soon as he said them and clenched his fist. _Stupid thing to say! Way to make her mad!_

"No," the Succubus replied, her expression softening, "but if we work together, we should be able to slow him down enough to escape."

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. My room's not too far away from here. Maybe we can get there without running into anybo-WHOA!"

Yasma had dragged Dante out of the way just in time to prevent him from being trampled by a small group of injured students rushing into the staircase. "Get outta my way!" one of the students shouted. "He's crazy!"

They watched the students flee through the nearest exit and exchanged worried glances. "Well," Dante whispered after a few seconds of silence, "those were fairly young students, and _they_ survived..."

"Who knows how many had initially been in their group?" Yasma whispered back. "Let's just rush in and out. Waiting here won't help Kitzi."

"Right, right..." The mouse Incubus started to dash into the corridor, determined to set a new record for the distance between the staircase and his room. However, his attempt was cut short after just a few steps. Somebody was standing in the middle of the corridor. Much to Dante's relief, it was not a rabid Doctor Ink. However, Dante was far from happy with what he saw. "...Kitzi?"


End file.
